


Fear of Flight

by orphan_account



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Abuse of italics, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Build up, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, I don't need to be this technical, I shouldn't have made this abo it wasn't necessary, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Torture, Will add tags as I go, based off a dream I had tho, probably too much dialogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-05-09 23:12:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5559344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a particularly bad sales quarter, Jack is looking for a new hire to bring in. Rhys ends up being exactly what he needs. The only problem is that he's hidden somewhere on Pandora.</p><p>Also could be called "Where Rhys is super talented at making weapons and Jack wants him"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

“What the FUCK!” Jack yelled, his voice echoing out across his huge expanse of an office. “No honestly Ethan, what the actual fuck, who is responsible for this?”

 

In truth the man’s name was Edgar, an unfortunate beta from sales, but he knew better than to correct Handsome Jack on his name that at this point. What he apparently didn’t know better was to say “Well technically sir, it was your fault.”

 

Poor unlucky bastard.

 

Jack spun around from where he had been pacing behind his desk to look at the man in front of him. He was short, he was shaking, and most importantly he was  _ extremely replaceable.  _

 

Jack reached into his coat, pulling out the pistol he affectionately named ‘Mox’ after the demon herself. The alpha was _pissed_ to say the very least, and his temper was bordering along homicidal. The recent events - that is to say the _fifty percent_ sales drop this quarter - was making his finger twitch, because he really wanted to let some rage out right now.

 

Ewan, Ethan, whatever this guy’s name was, raised his hands above his head, casting his glance as far down as possible before speaking. 

 

“W-wait sir, please.”

 

_ God, now the guy is begging, can he just shut the hell up already?   _ Jack thought, cocking his gun. The man let out an undignified squeak, as he rushed out his last words.

 

“Please! I know how to fix this!” Jack paused. He would usually kill whoever it was anyways, and Jack would never admit it, but this sales plummet was freaking him out. He might be a little desperate. After all, Hyperion was the company he had shed blood and sweat and a few tears over for the larger portion of his life. There was no way in hell he was going to let it fall while he had anything to do about it.

 

There had to be something he _could_ do. Their last line failed because the guns were mediocre, that much he was aware of. There were actually a variety of factors playing into the failure, too many to count really, and Jack had let them slide. So it really  _ was  _ his fault, but who the fuck was this guy to tell him that?

 

A new bubble of rage came up to the service of Jack’s mind and he let out a short growl before firing into the man. The first bullet went straight through his brain, and the guy was dead before he knew it, but Jack continued to fire into him, blood splattering across himself and along the front of his desk. He finally stopped when he felt slightly calmer, reaching into his pocket to echo his assistant. 

 

“Meg, darlin’, could ya get a clean up crew in here, and send Hotchkins from R&D to my office?” Jack said, speaking through his teeth. “Oh and uh, tell whoever needs to know that this Evan guy is dead as a doornail, capiche?”.

 

“Yes sir, letting the sanitation crew in now. Hotchkins is on her way.”

 

“Thank you babe, that’s all.”

 

Jack sighed as he hung up, still thoroughly angry, but the stress was beginning to slow down his mind. Fifty fucking percent. What the fuck.

  
\----------  
  


Amelia Hotchkins knew about the sales drop, knew it was why she being called into Jack’s office also. Everyone on Helios had heard about the drop by now, and the atmosphere grew tense as they waited for Handsome Jack to airlock a whole division. It probably didn’t even matter which one, but he’d do it out of spite anyways.

 

Amelia passed by Meg, giving the beta a curt nod before heading into Jack’s office. He was currently looking out his over large back window, still splattered with blood, and tapping out a fast rhythm on his forearm. Jack liked Amelia, hell had even tried to get her to go out with her several times, each of which she’d given him a pointed glare and roll of the eyes for. 

 

In fact, Amelia didn’t seem to be scared of Jack at all, a seemingly rare occurrence on the space station. Jack didn’t figure she seemed like she’d be scared of anything. She was an omega, but hardly fit the docile, soft stereotype. She had an array of scars down her arms, especially her hands, and every part of her looked made out of muscle. She smelled like motor oil and salt, and gave off a perpetual air of boredom. 

 

She looked like she could kick Jack’s ass. She was exactly his type.

 

“So, Jack. I think I’ve figured out why I’m here, and I don’t know what to say to you about it.” She began to roll her neck, joints popping.

 

“Yeah I brought you up here to ask for your insight on a new hire. Or theoretical new hire. Uh, I’m trying to figure out who to hire.”

 

Amelia snorted, and Jack turned to look at her. “Y’know this isn’t even  _ my  _ job, I don’t personally hire people for departments, but apparently  _ you  _ can’t hire anyone good because our guns sucked this quarter, and it’s  _ your  _ fault. Hyperion doesn’t make bad guns, ya hear?”

 

“So what you called me up here to tell me this? Or did you have someone in mind?”

 

“No, what I wanna know if who  _ you  _ might have in mind. Our resources are pretty fucking huge, and I wanna know if there’s someone in this stupid little galaxy you think is doing better than what you have. You name ‘em, I’m getting ‘em.”

 

“There’s a couple of good weapons programmers Maliwan just picked up off of one of the Eden’s. Hardly stellar, but with mentorship, could be good.”

 

Jack let out an exasperated sigh, balling his hands up and releasing them repeatedly. Amelia coked an eyebrow at the apparent restraint, looking back up to Jack’s face, arms crossed.

 

“No, no, no Amelia! You’re not listening! I’m Handsome Friggin Jack! I can get anything I want, I don’t want some stupid rich Eden kids that work for Maliwan, I want the best!”

 

Amelia let out a thoughtful hum, rolling her tongue over her teeth in thought.

 

“Oh well there is someone.”

 

Jack looked at her expectantly, raising his eyebrows with impatience.

 

“Yeah? Go on.”

 

“Well, he doesn’t exactly have a name I could call him by, but he’s the best. We’ve contracted with him before, in fact, I think you’ve got a couple of his pistols on you right now.”

 

Jack pats himself down, pulling out the five guns he keeps on himself and laying them across his desk, gesturing for Amelia to come over.

 

“Show me which ones” Jack says, bending over to look at them all fondly.  

 

She pointed out three different ones, causing Jack’s brow to furrow.

 

“You mean to tell me that three of my favorite guns were made by this guy? Hyperion guns made by some contractor? Apparently the best Hyperion guns aren’t even made by Hyperion people?”

 

Amelia gives him a quick glance, shrugging. “I’ve tried to hire him before, have him move up to Helios, but he refuses each time. So for the moment being, we just do temp hires. He makes every aspect of the gun himself except the final build, it’s really impressive actually. Does design, code, mock up, prototype, everything. Threatens us if we change it.”

 

Jack looks at her dumbfoundedly.  _ Who the fuck is this kid.  _ “Yeah, so where’s he right now?”

 

Amelia nods, taking a step back. “This is where your ‘unlimited resources’ come in I suppose. For the past three months he’s been held hostage by a group somewhere out in the Dead Sands best as I can tell.” She screws her mouth up a little before going on, “Actually, he’s got a couple people looking for him. Jakobs and Maliwan have been trying to get their paws on him for a couple weeks now. He’s done work for a couple other manufacturers, all of his guns are top selling. But aside from his contract echo’s, the guy is mostly a ghost.”

 

“How come this is the first time I’ve heard about him? Doesn’t it seem like something important? The eridium fumes getting to all your stupid little brains?” Jack feels a little cheated by not knowing. If the kid’s so weirdly perfect, how come Hyperion hasn’t got him? 

 

“Yeah Jack sure, whatever. Anyways, the bandits keeping him have been using him as their private weapons maker. I don’t really know how he’s doing it. But he’s making them shitty weapons, by his standards at least, but they’re still powerful, they’d know if he was playing them.”

 

God, even bandits have heard of him? Where has Jack been recently?

 

“But these psycho's, the stupid shits they are, want to brag, and release the code and design and everything. This is the fun part, get this-”

 

Was everyone on this space station a nerd, wow.

 

“So, he has code in his code. Cool right? These dumb marauders don’t see what he’s doing, but he’s basically able to broadcast his location and everything. So we know where he is, but so far no one’s been able to get him. We don’t even know what he looks like, what his real name is.”

 

Huh, so he really was a ghost. A ghost Jack was now hellbent on getting though. Sounds like nothing less than a dream in his mind. 

 

Jack began tapping into his echo, bringing up his list of contacts and typing up a blast message to his contact group called “Useful and bloodthirsty nerds”. He began typing up his message, getting the Dead Sands coordinates from Amelia to add into his instructions before requesting some backup loaders to head down to Pandora with his rag tag group of mercenaries.

 

“Oh wait Amelia, before you go, what’s the kid go by?”

 

“He calls himself ‘The Company Man’”

  
God, what a stupid fucking name.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, as I planned, Rhys does get tortured in this chapter. We don't see a WHOLE lot of it, but still be wary.

Rhys cried out in pain, the ropes that tied around his left wrist and right shoulder rubbing against him like fire for the millionth time within the past hour. He was being hung from the ceiling currently, his toes dancing over the top of the chair beneath him as he struggled to stand up.

 

The face of the man in front of him swirled in his vision, mixing with black dots that were becoming increasingly bigger. 

 

Finally, the man released his grip from around Rhys’ throat, and all visuals and sound returned to him along with his breath. He could hear the faint buzz of some old servers behind him that they occasionally let him use to code the weapons he was making them.

 

God, he hoped someone had figured out where he was by now. The code wasn’t too complex, just hard enough that it would probably take someone with good knowledge of where to look for it to decipher it.

 

The beta who had just finished strangling Rhys was actually a new face, but as far as Rhys could tell, wasn’t here to actually get him to do anything, just wanted to beat him up. It actually wasn’t even that bad compared to what their boss did to him regularly, but Rhys wasn’t going to prompt him to up his game.

 

“You stupid fucking programmer. All you little inventor types think you’re better than us, ain’t that right?” Rhys tracked the man slowly with his eyes as he began to rant. “You think you’re better than us don’t you? Your guns aren’t even that good, and here we are, keeping you alive for the hell of it huh.”

 

Rhys would’ve rolled his eyes if he had the energy to. This seemed weirdly like a personal vendetta, did he know this guy? The man began pacing back and forth in front of where Rhys was hung, casting him the occasional glare. He seemed to be trying to think of the next way to fuck up Rhys.

 

What, they already got his arm and eye, and they wanted  _ more _ ?

 

The beta’s train of thought seemed to produce something and he planted himself directly in front of Rhys, taking out a knife which most certainly was  _ not  _ clean and twirling the hilt between his fingers. 

 

“Oh yeah, I’ve got a good idea now. You’ll love this one.”

 

He approached Rhys, knife in hand, and began running his fingers down his sides lightly. Rhys’ month’s captured have left him slightly emaciated, and the bandit was able to find what he was looking for quickly. 

 

The man inched up closer to Rhys, smoothing a hand down his chest before deftly slipping his knife between Rhys’ seventh and eighth ribs.

  
\----------  
  


Axton yanked the echo away from his face as the person on the other end let out a deafening scream. Their group was about four miles away from the bandit hideout, probably one of the biggest the mercenary had seen. It sprawled several square miles, which was the purpose of listening in to the radio chatter. 

 

The camp was too big to just wipe through, it’d be too time consuming, and judging by the screams coming from the other end of the line, they didn’t have a whole lot of time.

 

Axton looked over his shoulder, the sand and wind whipping his face as he spoke to his team.

 

“Hey you think that scream was from our guy? I mean there’s probably batshit screaming psycho’s all over the place, but that sounded a little more human, right?”

 

The Hyperion soldiers behind him only grunted in agreement. Talk about a lack of personality, come on. 

 

The screams didn’t reveal any location, which was starting to get Axton restless. All these techs working for Jack and he didn’t have any good radio tracking technology? Total bullshit in his opinion.

 

Axton looked back at his echo as more chatter came over the line, the words crackling a little bit.

 

“ _ You dumb fucking idiot. Get your hands off of him, we need him alive. _ ”

 

Definitely their guy. 

 

Shouts arose from the echo, and then silence. Axton was unsure if the man just got thrown out of the room or killed. He didn’t really care either way as long as it wasn’t his cargo getting hurt.

 

There were whispered words coming from the other line that Axton couldn’t make out before the same man barked out instructions.

 

“Get back to the main building, and get me a healing hypo before you fuck anything else up!”

 

So the guy was alive, and presumably close to the main building. If they had an arial view all they’d need to look for was a guy running like a bat out of hell, and follow where he went.

 

“Hey, someone get a drone up in the sky, I want you to look for a guy running, probably already has the hypo, and he’ll be near one of the biggest buildings.” Axton sighed, this shouldn’t be too hard. In and out with the kid quick, not really wanting to fuck around with the other bandits.

 

“Hey, we’ve got someone spotted, wanna take a look?”

 

Axton walked over to where the soldier was standing, looking down at his echo. That was their man. 

 

“Alright! Let’s move out, we’re doing an airdrop, don’t start shit okay? In and out.”

 

Axton looked at his team, nodding towards the Hyperion helicopters behind them. 

 

“Let’s goooo guys, what’d I just say?” Axton said as his group was reluctant to follow behind him. He wished WIlhelm had come instead. 

  
\----------

 

Rhys had smelled the alpha as he entered, like rancid meat and dirty water. He watched as he pulled the beta away from him, yelling out orders before the man ran out of the room. 

 

This guy was a common appearance to Rhys, presumably the bandit leader. He was there when Rhys was kidnapped, is there every time Rhys finishes one of the weapons for him, is there every time Rhys gets tortured, doing it himself several times as well. 

 

He stalked towards Rhys, and Rhys closed his eyes, and tried to lean away as the man began to pet down his sides. Rhys hated, dreaded being here all together, but these moments were the worst. They were too invasive, and too predatory to be normal bandit torture.

 

The man lined himself behind Rhys, and even though Rhys was being strung up like a piece of meat from the ceiling, the man’s tall stature still allowed him to reach Rhys’ neck with ease.

 

He pressed his nose flat against the slope of Rhys’ neck, inhaling as he ran his hands down Rhys’ battered sides, covered in scars and dried blood, littered with bruises and his fresh stab wound. 

 

Rhys held his breath, eyes still screwed shut as the bandit scented him. 

 

“You don’t smell the same as you did when you first came in here. You were sweet then, now you smell like fear and dirt. Maybe I should release you for a couple months, and hunt you down again.”

 

Rhys could feel the man smile at his idea, his dry lips spreading across Rhys’ shoulder. 

 

Rhys swears for the hundredth time within the past day that he’s going to kill this fucker as soon as he gets out. He has it planned out in his head, how he’ll keep letting him bleed, close to death, and then heal him. Just like they’ve been doing to Rhys to make him weak. He’s going to dig a knife into his stupid little skag shit chest and watch him die underneath him. He’s gonna-

 

_ Shittt  _ Rhys thinks as the beta returns with the hypo and promptly jams it into his side, disrupting his gorey thoughts. Rhys can feel it numb his pain pretty quickly, and becomes aware of the alpha at his back again, and…. gunshots?

 

Yeah, those were gunshots, and they were getting closer. Rhys felt relief flood his system as the alpha stepped away from him, and pulled out his revolver from the holster on his thigh. 

 

Gunshots were a relatively normal occurrence, but they usually sounded more distant. Maybe someone was going to help him escape from this hell hole  _ finally _ . Rhys actually could’ve escaped on his own if it weren’t for the fact they’d confiscated his arm and fucked up his echo eye almost as soon as they got their flithy hands on him. That, and his near constant blood loss.

 

Rhys may design guns, may make them, and can certainly  _ use  _ them, but never actually has any on him. Which he’s regretting at this point, because he’s thinking being captured could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t been so damn reluctant to carry. 

 

He just doesn’t like killing people that much, alright? It’s messy and it’s usually unnecessary, and it’s something he greatly profits off, but he doesn’t want to do it on a daily basis. Or on any basis at all.

 

Rhys is reminded of where he is by the sound of the door being thrown open. Through the hypo medication, as well as his ragged breathing, probably from a punctured lung, he still manages to keep his head up loosely to see the people entering.  

 

He’s able to watch as the bandit leader dives behind a server in the back of the room, and as several troops accompanied by who seems to be their chief enter swiftly. Behind them he can see an old Dahl turret firing off into the hallway. 

 

Rhys instantly begins to think of how he could probably improve it tenfold, but is brought back to reality as someone cuts his binds and he falls forward onto the person before him. Weakly, Rhys places his hand on the chest he’s fallen into for balance, but his legs don’t seem to get the memo that it’s time to escape, and he allows the stranger to support his weight. 

 

Behind him Rhys can hear the bandit letting out a string of bitter last words, muffled by the blood in his mouth.

 

Damn, he was really looking forward to killing that guy himself. It probably would’ve helped give him a sense of closure about this whole thing, although it  _ probably  _ would’ve given him nightmares as well. But Rhys has already got those, so at least he could make them worthwhile. 

  
  
\----------

 

The first thing Axton sees when he gets in the room is the kid hanging limply from the ceiling, situated in the middle of the room. He allows the Hyperion troops to pass around him and kill the other two men as he approaches the boy. 

 

The second thing Axton sees is how absolutely  _ fucked up  _ this kid is. If the bruises, blood, both fresh and dried, and scars indicate anything, he’s been tortured pretty bad. He’s also pale and sickly thin, which Axton attributes to the lack of sunlight and starvation he’s most likely had to endure.

 

A hypo lays abandoned on the floor near him, probably for the deep cut in his ribs. 

 

He quickly approaches the man hanging, wrapping an arm around his waist before cutting his binds down, allowing him to fall on top of him. He didn’t feel like much of anything, and Axton was able to support him easily. The guy places a weak hand on Axton’s chest, attempting - and failing - to stand himself up. 

 

He still a little bit of fight in him at the least.

 

Axton scoops the boy up, who he’s assuming is the rumoured “Company Man”, and gives a quick glance around the room before leaving, soldiers in tow.

  
\----------  
  


Rhys wakes up in a hospital bed. The lights are overly bright and he blinks hard several times before fully opening his eyes. From Rhys’ position he sees he’s alone, which is somewhat of a relief. On the downside, the place is generic and doesn’t give Rhys an inkling of an idea of where he could be. The white sheets, the sterile side table, the lights (God do they have to be this horrible?), leave his location a complete mystery. 

 

Rhys tries to sit up and swing his feet over the side of the bed, only to stop when he feels pain rupture in his side. Looking down at himself he can see that his torso has been bandaged tightly, and the wrapping looks fresh and neat. 

 

After a minute he’s able to ease himself up off the bed, looking for any sign of his whereabouts. Grabbing the echo near the door, he begins looking over it for information.

 

As soon as it’s activated the Hyperion logo flashes for a second  before fading to reveal a medical report.

 

So Hyperion had gotten to him first. Why the Dahl guy then? It also meant that he was either at a Hyperion base on Pandora, or on Helios. 

 

He  _ really  _ hoped it wasn’t Helios.

 

Rhys turns his attention back to the medical report, looking over the document to see the damage done. Reading over it quickly he’s glad to discover that Hyperion still hasn’t founf out his actual name, but figures sticking around here long enough will fix that. He also discovers that his lung was indeed punctured, but has since been fixed, and that the bandages on his chest are for the several broken ribs he has. He also apparently has several groups of stitches, but there’s nothing to be done about the scars and bruises. 

 

Rhys grabs a robe hanging on the back of the door, and slips the echo into his pocket before peeking his head out the doorway. The medical ward of where ever he was, was surprisingly empty at the time. Rhys looked at both sides of the hallway before stepping out of the room and turning right with a wince. It looked like there was a main hallway there, which probably led to a way out.

 

Rhys soon was able to find that it did not lead anywhere particularly helpful, and that the hallway was unlabeled and deserted except for the huge window that seemed to encompass the entire outside wall of the hallway.

 

This window showed the one and only Elpis, the trademark soft purple glow illuminating the hallway further.

 

So it was Helios, fan-fucking-tastic. 

 

If Rhys was gonna get out of here he’d need a plan. That and an echo, and probably some morphine for later.

 

\----------

 

He’s totally got this. Totally. Right?

  
  


“Sir, Axton is here to see you.”

 

“Alright Meg, send him on in, and upload those reports about all that bullymong shit to my echo, kay?”

 

“Certainly.”

 

As Axton entered the office Jack continued to finish his latest memo to marketing, finally sending it off and looking to the other alpha expectantly.

 

“Well, Ax-man, tell me the news on our sweet new techie, I wanna hear it.”

 

Axton ran a hand through his hair, sighing. Jack frowned. This wasn’t going to be good news apparently.

 

“So, there  _ is _ some good news! I totally found the guy, he was half dead, but still found ‘im. Brought him up here to Helios, like you said, took him to medical, cause he was dying. Anyways, although I did technically get him, and brought him up here, he escaped medical.”

 

Jack’s frown deepened. This was just not his day. He continued to look at Axton, eyes bored.

 

“Alright, so? You found him, we know where he is, all that good stuff yada yada yada?”

 

Axton shook his head.

 

“Uh, actually what he did was hack a fast travel station, and then blew it up, so we can’t trace it to where he’s headed.”

 

Jack leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his jaw in frustration. This kid was supposed to be, is still going to be, his saving grace, his rebound, and he’s fucking gone already.

 

“God you dumb shits can’t do anything right can you? Tell me that you’ve at least got a lead on where he might be. I’ll send someone  _ good _ down this time.”

 

Axton looked mildly offended, opening his mouth to protest, but closing it. Yeah, it was a little bit his fault, because he  _ was  _ supposed to guard him, but who would’ve guessed he’d wake up right as he went to the bathroom?

 

Axton continued on when Jack gave him an exasperated look, “Yeah, I think I know where he is. So the bandit town he was being held at was out in the Dead Sands, kinda bordering tundra express. But, all the accounts of this guy we were able to pull up have him near like the mid Highlands ya know? Anyways, I think I’ve found his location. I just started looking for more abandoned places, buildings set into mountains and all that. I got a hit on a place near an old Atlas facility, figured he’d probably loot it and stick close by.”

 

“Yeah first good thing you’ve done.”

 

“I  _ did  _ save his ass from dying too. Seriously, he was beat the fuck up.”

 

Jack rolled his eyes at the ex-soldier, probably trying to paint himself out to be a hero. That was _not_ his job.

 

“Okay whatever, give me the location okay? I’ve got someone I need to call.”

 

Axton nodded as he transferred the coordinates to Jack’s echo, which popped up alongside the documents he’d asked Meg for. 

 

Thumbing through his echo Jack dialed up one of his favorite people, listening to it ring a few times before it was picked up.

 

“Hey there kid, what’s new?” the voice on the other end purred out.

 

“Nisha, I’ve gotta favor to ask you.”

 

“Yeah, hold that for second I’ve got something here.” 

 

Jack listened in as the unmistakable noise of a neck snapping came through to him. He grinned,  _ thatta girl  _ he thought.

 

“So, what’s this favor you’re talking about Jackie?”

  
“I need you to get someone for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ao3 isn't cooperating with me on the chapter notes, and I'm gonna fight it. 
> 
> Someone should stop me from writing at 3 am, it's bad for quality. Anyways, up next is Nisha to the rescue, and Jack and Rhys finally meet! Is it love at first sight? Who knows! (I do)
> 
> You can hit me up on tumblr @rhysiebaby


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Nisha, stage right!  
> Warning for some violence, namely neck breaking. Have Fun!

As much as Nisha loved (tolerated, understood…?) Jack, she  _ was  _ in the middle of something right as his call came through. It had been a couple months since she had last talked to him, let alone seen him, and the pair was overdue for a meeting.

 

But that could be scheduled  _ later  _ because right now, a traitor had to be dealt with. 

 

She was leaning back against her rarely used desk, hands firm on the jaw and crown of the head of the man bent in front her, debating answering her Echo or not. He was her favorite boyfriend after all, and he’d probably enjoy this.

 

She took away her hand that was placed on the back of the man’s head to fish her Echo out of her back pocket. She answered it and placed it on the desk, resuming her position, allowing herself to look over the man’s face as she spoke.

 

“Hey there kid, what’s new?” Nisha spoke out into the room, quiet except for the faint whimpers coming from the man in front of her. She rolled her eyes at him,  _ God have some self-respect as you’re about to be murdered.  _

 

Jack’s voice came across the line, cracking slightly with static. “Nisha, I’ve gotta favor to ask you.”

 

Nisha cocked an eyebrow. A favor meant a reward, or at least a favor in return, and she liked holding that over Jack.

 

“Yeah, hold that for second I’ve got something here.” She said, eyes sliding over the man’s expression a last time. She didn’t skip all the fun bits of fucking a traitor up, so his face was covered in blood, and bruises, some swelling around his eyes. Those are what she looked at as she snapped neck, how scared they were. A couple other emotions accompanied the fear, but nothing else was as good to watch.

 

As she allowed the man’s battered body to drop the floor, she scooped up her Echo, holding it in hand as she prodded the corpse in front of her with her toe. “So, what’s this favor you’re talking about Jackie?”

 

“I need you to get someone for me. Normally I would send out other people, but ya see I  _ already  _ did and the someone in question managed to escape” Jack said, and Nisha could feel the irritation pulsating off of him, even from Pandora. “And Nisha, you  _ are  _ the best.”

 

Flattery was a cheap tactic, but she’d take it. Besides, Lynchwood has been surprisingly quiet lately, and she was starting to get antsy and eager for excitement. A little man hunt could do her some good.

 

“But! You can’t kill him.”

 

Nisha sighed, disappointed to say the least.

 

“Alright Jack, I’ll take the bait. Who’s the guy?”

 

On the other end, Jack smiled at her acceptance. “Some kid I got Axton to rescue from a bandit camp. Anyways, the guy’s a fucking sweet weapons programmer, designer, builder, so on. Just really good. But he managed to escape Helios via fast travel, and we think he’s headed back to his home base. You in?”

 

“Wait a second, I’m not in yet. Why would he go back to home base? Seems stupid.”

 

“He wasn’t kidnapped from around where he lives, so as far as he’s concerned, that’s the place nobody will look for him.”

 

Nisha thinks it over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, before asking a final question,  _ the most important question  _ in her opinion.

 

“So what’s in it for me?”

 

“Take your pick darling. Money, guns, sex, whatever.”

 

Nisha laughs a little at the last proposition “I don’t need to do you favors to get you to have sex with me Jack.”  

 

She hears a short offended huff and cuts him off before he can start whining, “I’ll take money, cause you know I like it so much.” 

 

Their conversation continues, Jack giving Nisha the location, along with payment, and a promise to remind her how good he is in bed. Nisha grins, sure he is, but she’s better.

 

* * *

  
  


The place Jack’s sent her too is completely abandoned. Which she’s guessing is why the guy in question chose it, but it sets her on edge as she makes her way across the rocky terrain. She passed the old Atlas facility Jack had mentioned and was rounding her way about a base of one of the smaller mountains. 

 

Nisha really couldn’t believe it. This dude lived in a fucking  _ cave _ . It was cool in a very super weird way.

 

After coming back to her original spot, she decided to call Jack and tell him his lead was a no go.

 

“What do you  _ mean  _ nothing’s there?”

 

“What I mean, is that nothing’s here. No barely visible path, no obscure spots of rock, nothing. It’s a normal fucking mountain.”

 

Jack let out an exasperated scoff and Nisha could imagine how he threw his hands up in frustration.

 

Nisha sighed, looking at her surroundings, and began to walk again. 

 

“I don’t know Jack, maybe he’s got it cloaked or something, or it’s one of these other mountains around here.”

 

“Wait, go back to the cloaking thing, that’s good. This kid’s like wicked smart with tech and everything, he’s probably got the place cloaked and armoured.”

 

“I’ve got an elemental on me but I haven’t got an idea of where to shoot.”

 

“Well damn Nisha, I’m not down there, I dunno what to do.”

 

“I’m just gonna shoot at random spots until something gives if you’re not going to give me anything to work with.” Nisha said, and her voice was light, edging around instigating something or annoying Jack for the hell of it.

 

“Yeah, yeah, just find my guy alright? See ya later babe.”

 

Jack clicked off his Echo, and Nisha began with her plan of shooting at random intervals until she heard the unmistakable noise of something being digistructed. 

 

She cocked her head, walking closer to the mountain face in the direction she heard the noise. She didn’t see it still, so the cloaking was still in effect. She hadn’t hit it either apparently, but was just close enough someone had noticed.

 

Cloaking could keep the hideout unseen, but it couldn’t mask the feel of it, of the structure and build. She began to trail her hand along the mountain as she walked the way she came, searching for anything.

 

Her fingers began to bump metal and she stopped where she stood, allowing both hands to feel across the face of the mountain until she found a solid shape. It could only be about eight by five inches, with buttons across it. Moving her hands higher, standing on her toes she began to feel the underside of a security camera.

 

Nisha smiled. Bingo. 

 

The sound of the digistruct meant someone had noticed her, and she was probably being watched right now. She backed up a couple paces, waving her arms dramatically at the rock wall. 

 

“Hello? Uh-” She paused to look down at her Echo before resuming, “uh, Company Man? You in there?”

 

Rhys, who was watching the feed from his Echo inside was most definitely in there. He had seen her the first time she treked around the mountain, and had instantly scanned her and pulled up her profile that was available on the Echonet. 

 

Name: Nisha Kadam

Occupation: Sheriff of Lynchwood, overall badass

Other details: (Quote) “Don’t fucking scan me. I said don’t fucking scan me you weird ass robot. GOD, what did I just say-” (End Quote)

Summary: Deemed dangerous until proven otherwise. 

 

Rhys watched her intently, mind circulating plans and thoughts as he debated what to do. He could definitely kill her. His turrets could take her out easy even with her shield, and they were still cloaked. He could run away through the tunnels he has thankfully thought to dig out, take as much with him and set up shop somewhere else. He  _ could  _ listen to her, but it was lower on his list. She  _ did  _ look dangerous, in a way Rhys liked more than he was willing to admit, but his life was at stake.

 

He opted for the third plan, watching her curiously as he chewed the inside of his cheek. She stepped closer, raising her eyebrows impatiently to look in the general direction of the security camera. 

 

“Well? I’m sure you’ve already looked me up, know who I am and all, aren’t you curious why I’m here?”

 

Rhys was curious which was the bad part. He figured she was tied into his rescue, because it would have taken serious investigation to locate Rhys. But she didn’t have an ounce of Hyperion on her. Or Dahl for that matter, thinking of the soldier who was there at the scene. Her weapons were Tediore for christ’s sake, not linked to either of the other manufacturers at all- “ _Holy shit is that the Fastball_ ” Rhys spoke in a tight whisper, leaning in closer to his Echo screen.  

 

Unfortunately for Rhys, and his stupid gangly limbs, Nisha knew his exact thoughts as his forearm pressed down on the button for the speaker, and his voice spoke suddenly from where Nisha remembered the panel being.

 

She looked surprised, and let her hand fall on the mod hooked onto her belt.

“Uh, yeah it is. You wanna look?”

 

The Fastball was an older mod, certainly not the best Rhys had seen, but he was able to appreciate it. It was probably one of Tediore’s finest, and Rhys had been lowkey looking for one to tinker with for the past two years (Rhys knew he could make it better).  He was a total sucker for incendiary after all, and he really, really, wanted a look.

 

But was getting to look at it worth risking his life? For someone whose life is so heavily entrenched in making damn near perfect tech, it might be.

 

In the end, Rhys’ desire to get up close with the Fastball outweighed the risk of dying. He really needed to sort out his priorities. 

 

“So…?” Nisha questioned, rolling her shoulders to emphasize her boredom.

 

“Alright” Rhys answered, “I’m going to let you in, there’s a table to your right as you enter, put your guns on it. But keep the Fastball on you, clear?”

 

Nisha simply nodded, and soon after she could hear the sound of heavy mechanics working  as a door opened. The kid was heavily armed and protected for literally living in a hole in the wall. She took another step back as the cloaking shimmered to reveal a door slightly to her left, and a whole lot of turrets. She stood in wonder for a moment before stepping inside, the door closing on it’s own and locking behind her.

 

Nisha took her two pistols out of thigh holsters, and unslung the shotgun from across her back, setting the three down on the table beside her. She took a step forward but was met with a low voltage shock going through her body.

 

A voice yelled out from somewhere in the house, “Including the ones in your boots, and jacket!” 

 

So the kid had scanned her again, smart. 

 

After removing all of her guns, she continued forward in the house, observing her situation for combat instinctively. She wasn’t expecting any, but it never hurt, especially in the house of someone who made weapons for a living. 

 

But there wasn’t a whole lot of the house to see, nearly all of the lights were off except the glow of one down a hall further ahead of her. 

  
  


“I’ll be there in a second, just finishing something.” Rhys called out, repositioning himself on the edge of his bathroom sink. Nisha’s appearance outside his home had distracted him from his previous task of repairing several of his stitches he had ripped during his escape from Helios. 

 

It wasn’t the first time he had given himself stitches, and Rhys highly doubted it would be the last. Occupational hazard or something like that.

 

He took a minute more to clean up some of the blood that had leaked out of the wound before pulling his shirt back on and idly touching his shield to ensure it’s presence. Nisha didn’t have her guns, and he didn’t figure she’d throw a grenade, because she’d get stuck in the fire as well. It still never hurt to be prepared.

 

Rhys walked slowly to the main room of his house, which operated mostly as workshop, but was scattered with small towers of books that teetered precariously atop pieces of furniture. 

 

As he got closer, he began to inhale in search of the woman’s scent, simultaneously cursing himself for not having the lights on. The lack of light, accompanied by the fact he lived in a  _ cave  _ made it impossibly dark, and Rhys had no idea where this woman was. He had lost a highly dangerous bandit-who-kills-bandits in his own house. 

 

But he could smell her. Her scent radiated cold, calculated danger and cunning, it smelled subtly like iron, not like the overwhelming blood and flesh of the bandit who had kidnapped him, but the tang of iron was certainly there alongside something unplaceable, like a spice Rhys didn’t know. 

 

She was an alpha. Recently everyone Rhys seemed to encounter had the same violent alpha scent, all different, but similar. It kind of pissed Rhys off if he was being honest.

 

As he reached the doorway, his left hand skated along the wall for the lightswitch. Normally he would have turned the lights on remotely, but his arm was lost by the bandits, somewhere out in the Dust, Rhys figured. 

 

He had other arms, but none so well equipped and made. He missed it, and the comforting weight it provided. But he’d get over it, make a new one, it’d be even better also, but it just took a lot time to do it completely manually.

 

A cough drew Rhys out of his thoughts and he looked up into the brightly lit room, eyes meeting Nisha’s. 

 

Nisha stood, hand on her hip, facing Rhys as his silhouetted figure came into full detail in the light. She broke her eyes from Rhys’ to give the room a full scan, casually striding over to his workbench and lazily inspecting some of the pieces strewn about. They all had a fine layer of dust, but that’s expected when no one’s there to touch them for several months. 

 

She turned back to Rhys, still unnervingly silent  as she extended her hand, Fastball in her grip. Rhys approached her slowly, although not with outright fear, which was something she was thankful for. She didn’t want to have to intimidate throughout this whole affair. To Nisha, his expression read more as skeptical and deliberate, like he was trying to figure out everything about her onsight. 

 

Up close she was able to get a closer look at him. Bruises and cuts remained on his face as evidence of his time captured, but they were healing fast, no doubt with the help of a hypo or two and some morphine. But overall he was pretty, all of his features soft and smooth. Everything about him reflected how young he was, and Jack’s words about how amazing he supposedly was rang through Nisha’s mind. He’d become distinguished pretty fast apparently.

 

Then there was the matter of his scent. He was undoubtedly an omega, but considering his proximity, he should’ve been more powerful. Like something, or someone had screwed around with his endotype. Nisha frowned inwardly. That kind of torture was fucked up, even by her standards.

 

Rhys picked up the grenade mod, turning it over in his hand before moving to set it down on his workbench. He then reached behind the desk slightly to pull out a prosthetic arm, delicately attaching it to the socket mounted in his shoulder. 

 

“I’m guessing you’re here for me, probably know know about what happened with those bandits and all, so I won’t explain it to you.” Rhys pulled out his chair, settling into it and pulling a large magnifying glass over the mod to inspect if fully. He spoke as he observed, not touching any of his tools yet. “Anyways, the bandits stole, or lost my arm, and fucked up the socket while they were at it too. So, first thing I did when I got back here was fix  _ this  _ fully.” He tapped at his right shoulder, back still to Nisha.

 

“But yeah, that arm was pretty sweet, but it’s gone so I’m using this one. By the way, the Fastball is super cool and everything, but I can make it better.” At this he twisted in his chair to look at Nisha questioningly. 

 

“Dunno kid, I kind of like that one a lot, wouldn’t want you to break it or anything.”

 

Rhys looked offended, sputtering before letting out an indignant noise. “I wouldn’t  _ break  _ it. I don’t  _ break things _ , I make them  _ better _ .” Rhys said exasperated, looking at Nisha with raised eyebrows.

 

“Wait, on second thought, before I make your grenade mod really awesome, why don’t you tell me why you’re here. I should know the client before hand and all that.”

 

Nisha smiled, teeth all predator as she tilted her hat in a greeting gesture, “I’m Nisha, and Handsome Jack sent me to get you after you escaped his little space station.” Rhys seemed unaffected by the news, so Nisha continued on, “Apparently he wants to hire you, I don’t know all the details ‘cause that’s not really my division, but it feels like the kind of offer where you take it or you die.” That last part wasn’t true, Jack  _ had _ seemed pissed about not having the kid, but hadn’t threatened death or anything. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t, knowing Jack’s track record, so Nisha only considered her words to be embellishing. 

 

But Rhys still didn’t look scared. He looked annoyed, and turned back to the table to pick up Nisha’s grenade and bring it over to her.

 

“Look, Hyperion’s tried to hire me before, and each time I’ve said no. I told them I’d still contract with them, but I don’t want to be part of their club, so they can stop asking me. Here-” Rhys thrust the mod into Nisha’s hands as he turned away, “Your grenade is really cool, and for the record I really could have made it better, but I don’t want it, and I don’t want Hyperion. I’ll have the door open for you.” 

 

He began walking away from Nisha, but was stopped short as she grabbed him by the back of his shirt. 

 

“Listen here, I don’t take too kindly to people being so dismissive of me, but I’ll make an exception since I’m getting paid an awful lot. Now, there’s gotta be something you want, something you need, alright? Just tell me and I’ll make sure it happens and then you can come back with me to Helios and everything will be friggin’ superb.”

 

A moment of consideration flashes in Rhys’ mind. Handsome Jack does have a lot of resources. Would he be willing to exploit a few just to have Rhys on his team?

 

Nisha must’ve sensed Rhys’ contemplation, and let go of his shirt. 

 

Rhys just continues to think. Anything he wanted or needed was a lot to offer. But with that he could ensure the safety of his friends. He could help them get out of conning their way through life, could give them something better. A life money couldn’t buy, but power could, and who has more power than Handsome Jack?

 

Rhys turns to face Nisha, face set in his decision. 

 

“Okay. But I need to know that what you said is true, that whatever I say I want to happen will happen.” Rhys is staring intently into Nisha’s eyes, fear wavering under the surface of his skin, but his eyes hard.

 

Nisha kind of liked it.

 

“Yeah, I said anything, and I meant anything, I’m a woman of my word.”

 

“I’ll kill you if you’re not.”

 

Nisha wasn’t a big fan of death threats, but something about this little spitfire of a kid made her smirk at it. 

 

“Well then, get what you need, and we’ll go.”

 

Rhys nodded at Nisha’s words, turning away from her and moving down the hallway as he began to gather things he might need.

 

No doubt Handsome Jack would want blueprints, and any code he had, as well as his projects in the making. Alongside his work he threw in some clothes, and mementos as well. His final item was a photo of him and his two friends, his arms thrown around their shoulders as they all gave the camera toothy smiles. Placing the framed pictures securely in his bag, he went back to the main room where Nisha was standing, eyes fixed on her Echo. 

 

Rhys gathered a few final tools off his workbench as she tapped away, before coming to stand in front of her, picking up his own Echo, and began locking down parts of the house. 

 

Nisha tore her eyes away from Jack’s message, and began watching as metal doors closed off the hallway, and the lights began to dim.

 

“I’m locking it down so no one can get in while I’m gone. I don’t know when I’ll be here next so it seems best just to close up shop.” Rhys shrugged, and Nisha watched curiously as he did so. So nonchalant about leaving his entire life behind. 

 

It was kind of weird, a little impressive too. 

 

She heard the door behind her repeat the mechanical sequence from earlier behind her, and moved to the table where her guns remained, and began reholstering all of them.

 

She stepped into the sunlight of Pandora, Rhys following shortly after her. 

 

“Is that an Octo too?” Rhys said gesturing at the shotgun on her back.

 

“Yeah, impressive right?” She said, cocking a lopsided smile.

 

Rhys gave the gun a contemplating glance before looking at Nisha. “I could make that better also.”

 

Nisha gave a roll of her eyes, leading the way to where she hid her runner by the old Atlas facility.

 

“Oh hey, might as well know your name right? Your anonymity is about to be ruined anyways when you get to Jack.”

 

She throws a glance over her shoulder at where Rhys is a couple paces behind her.

 

“It’s uh, Rhys.”

 

* * *

 

Nisha and Rhys took fast travel to Helios at the demand of Jack. They ended up in the Hub of Heroism, which when told the name Rhys scoffed at. Nisha laughed lightly also, cause it was pretty stupid, and a little too grandiose for her.

 

The pair was met by Axton who looked very intently at Rhys, giving him his constant focus as he led them through the levels of the space station. 

 

Finally Rhys grew too tired of the weird air Axton was giving off, and stopped to look at him.

 

“What’s the matter? Don’t trust me cause I’m from Pandora?”

 

Axton gave a mild look of confusion before shaking his head in realization. “Nope, I don’t have a problem with you being from Pandora, but I don’t want you escaping again.”

 

Rhys resumed walking, talking as he did so, and occasionally giving Axton a side glance.

 

“What so you’re responsible for me being able to get off Helios?”

 

Axton looked slightly embarrassed and Nisha laughed from where she walked behind them.

 

“Uh, yeah. Sort of.”

 

Rhys looked at him again, eyebrows furrowed. 

 

“What? You weren’t even there, like I was totally alone, escaping was easy.”

  
  


“I had to go to the bathroom! You had already been asleep for like ten hours and I hadn’t left your door yet, and I  _ told  _ the nurses to watch you, I mean what else was I supposed to do.” Axton protested. 

 

Rhys shrugged one shouldered, “I don’t know, not let me escape.” He was purposefully being annoying now, but aside from a disgruntled scoff, Axton didn’t seem offended.

 

The three of them stepped into an elevator and Axton pushed a button labeled with the number nineteen, and they began ascending. 

 

“Where are we going?” Rhys asked blatantly, because both Nisha and Axton seemed to know.

 

Nisha answered first, “Level nineteen is apartments and stuff, so you’ll probably drop off your things and then go see Jack.”

 

Axton gave a short nod, “Yeah, whatever you wouldn’t bring with you to an office you’ll put there. I’m guessing if you’re as smart as they say, you brought things you’re working on. You’ll put that stuff in Handsome Jack’s office.”

 

Rhys quickly turned his head to look at Axton. “No, my blueprints and prototypes aren’t leaving me.”

 

Axton sighed, “No they won’t, because you’ll also be in Jack’s office. That’s where he want’s you to set up. And then after that- you’ll probably go down to medical or R&D, or home, or the labs, wherever he tells me to take you and then-”

 

Rhys stops him “Wait, why will I be in his office? That doesn’t make sense, why won’t I be in an actual department?”

 

“Probably just wants to show off the new shiny jewel of Hyperion. Lotta people were trying to get to you apparently, but Jack’s the one that did it. Plus he likes his guns so much he’ll want to see everything. There’s a couple reasons.” Nisha pipes in, and the elevator comes to a halt. 

 

Axton walks down the corridor, trailed by a bored looking Nisha and a confused Rhys.

 

Why the fuck would he need to be in Handsome Jack’s office? Sure, Rhys has been through a lot, doesn’t get scared  _ too  _ easy, but it’s hard to be impenetrable to the stories of Handsome Jack.

 

His homicidal rages, and artful ways to inflict pain were the most common of tales, and Rhys believed them all. You don’t get to the top without getting dirty first.

 

Perhaps what scared Rhys the most was that he figured Handsome Jack had to be pretty smart. And intelligence coupled with murderous tendencies made for cruelty. 

 

So yeah, Rhys was scared of sharing an office.

 

The group rounded a corner to the most secluded of apartments, and Axton dialed into a pad on the wall before gesturing for Rhys to stand by him. 

 

“Your key will be a retinal scan and a handprint, so you’ve gotta get those both in now.”

 

Rhys stepped forward, placing his left hand on the pad and allowing it to scan him. He bent down slightly as the scanner projected forward and positioned his right eye in the wave of the light.

 

A feminine voice spoke when the process was complete. “Retinal and palm scan complete, key created. Please input biological key holder’s name.”

 

Rhys looked over at Axton who just nodded at the prompt, eyes expectant. 

 

Rhys paused as he came to his last name, unsure of what to put. 

 

“What kid, haven’t got one?” Nisha asked, peeking over Rhys’ shoulder.

 

He shook his head. A lot of Pandorans didn’t, maybe it was a cultural thing, maybe it was because of the non existent record keeping system, so there wasn’t a need.

 

Nisha nudged his shoulder a little, “Don’t get down about it. You can make one up or stick with what you’ve got. Doesn’t matter.”

 

Rhys let his hand fall. There’s no use in fixing something that ain’t broke, right?

 

He stepped back, allowing Axton to reach in front of him to finish the work setting up his access. He watched as Axton used his own retinal scan and handprint to authorize Rhys’, and it made him wonder about how high a Dahl soldiers position could be in Hyperion. 

 

The door’s lock popped, and Axton pushed it fully open, flattening himself against it so Rhys could move past him.

 

The apartment seemed to be a main layout of a kitchen immediately on the right, and a living room straight ahead which a hallway seemed to branch off. Rhys ventured further, noting how clean everything seemed to be. On Pandora, you could clean as intensely and often as you wanted, but a layer of dirt, dust, or sand was embedded in everything. 

 

The second thing Rhys noted was how  _ reflective  _ everything seemed. He could see his own face in everything he looked at. From the floors to the counters, to the door knobs. It felt like a constant reminder of what he agreed to do, how bad it was.

 

Boy, if he didn’t have any moral qualms contracting for a company that regularly killed thousands of Pandorans before...He felt owned now, like Hyperion was already stuck on him like Pandora sand.

 

Rhys pushed the thought out his mind in favor of walking over to the window that seemed encompass the entire wall. Further to the left set a workbench with it’s own tools and instruments, much more organized than Rhys’ ever were. 

 

The tools served as a reminder to unpack his things, and he went forward, seeking out a bedroom to throw his clothes and pictures in before going to go see Handsome Jack.

 

When he found it, Rhys discovered the same wall as the kitchen was a window in here as well, and bathed his room in starlight. It was incredibly calming, putting Rhys at ease as he unloaded his things quickly into a dark dresser. 

 

When he was finished, he returned to the door where Nisha and Axton were talking, bag slung over his shoulder, but somewhat lighter.

 

As he approached the duo stopped talking and looked at him, and instantly Rhys felt as though he had been their topic of conversation. He blushed slightly, and was amazed with himself how he could have stared down Nisha earlier in the day, but what made him weak was socially uncomfortable situations.

 

Truly amazing.

 

Nisha grinned a little as Rhys looked down, glad to see his “roll with everything” attitude falter slightly. Pivoting off the wall she began walking back down the hallway, whereas Axton waited for Rhys and walked along side him. 

 

“I can tell you’re nervous about seeing Jack, and I get it, practically ruler of the galaxy, scary guy, all that. And I’m not saying he’s not that- that’d be a lie. But he won’t kill you just for the fun of it. So don’t do anything stupid and you won’t die, okay? You’re smart, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

 

Oh brother.

 

* * *

 

 

The one thing Rhys had not anticipated about Handsome Jack was how much he talked. When Rhys, Axton, and Nisha had arrived in his office, was it the the huge layout that surprised him? No, that was predictable, a showoff move. Was it the amazing view of Elpis? Nope, everyone saves the best view for themselves. Was it how Nisha and Jack shared a deep, albeit strangely ferocious kiss upon seeing each other? Naw, Rhys figured they were linked somehow, and the violence of their kiss made sense from what Rhys knew about them.

 

What got Rhys was how Handsome Jack talked. Not just the extent of it, but how every word was so confident and punctuated.  

 

The moment they entered was announced by a sweet secretary named Meg, and at the names Jack’s head whipped up, a huge smile forming on his face- mask. His mask. His eyes locked on Nisha but he continued talking to whoever was on the other end of his Echo.

 

“Yeah, all of the sudden I don’t care, I’ve got something way more exciting happening right now. Do what I suggested, because it _will_ work, and get back to me later.” Jack hung up, and stood from his chair (throne really) to stride toward Nisha, the pair both pulling each other into a close embrace as they began to kiss. 

 

Rhys downcast his eyes, unsure of what to do. Seeing two people, two very  _ dangerous _ and  _ hot alpha _ ’s devour each other in front of him made Rhys a little scared, and a little turned on if he was going to admit it.

 

He looked at Axton, who rolled his eyes, and took out his Echo. Rhys took the time to look around the spacious room, which was lit more dimly than he anticipated. Everything glowed purple about itself, from the scars of Elpis through the windows, to the black floors which seemed to radiate the color. 

 

Soon Jack and Nisha broke apart, and Jack began approaching Rhys, as though nothing had happened. Rhys took his eyes off of the display case in the corner of the room, and brought them over to watch how Jack was getting closer to him. How  _ Handsome Jack  _ was getting closer to him, until he stopped directly in front of him. At this proximity he could smell Jack even if he held his breath. It was similar to Nisha’s in the underlying scent of blood, but had something more, like woodsmoke, and felt smooth against the back of Rhys’ tongue. It was absolutely intoxicating.

 

Even though Jack’s scent was clouding his mind, he heard him speak through the haze. “So, you must be our new weapons guru, for lack of a better term. You’ve obviously already met Nisha, she brought you up here when  _ this dumbass _ ” He shot a look at Axton, “couldn’t stop you from leaving my space station. Which is pretty great, dunno why you’d want to  _ leave  _ and go back down to your little craphole of a planet, but ya did. Axton’s the one who let it happen.”

 

The comment about Pandora had Rhys coming out of the trance Jack had put him in, and Rhys began to internally debate defending his home, his so called  _ craphole planet _ , but fought against it. The urge to snap back at a comment was not going to get him killed, especially not today before his friends were safe.

 

“...and of course you know me. You’re on my friggin’ space station, basically already work for my company! I’m just famous also, so we don’t have to visit that.” Jack waved his hand animatedly in an overly dismissive gesture.

 

God, Rhys was reaallly trying not to cock an eyebrow at the man, or to laugh. 

 

“So, “Company Man”- this was accompanied by actual finger quotes- “ introduce yourself.”

 

Rhys paused, biting back the urge to give a sarcastic quip, and opted for telling the truth.

 

“I’m Rhys, I basically make all your good guns.” In the distance Nisha rolled her eyes too hard that they got stuck.

 

Rhys failed at biting back his tongue.

 

Rhys was sure he was going to die.

 

On the bright side, he would die having stumped Handsome Jack.

 

Jack’s look wasn’t anger though, it was surprise more than anything. Though he quickly schooled it into some sort of scowl.

 

“And here I was, so happy cause I got to see my girlfriend, and hired the ultimate “weapons guru”, as described by apparently everyone in the universe- and he turns out to be an asshole, kills the good mood.” Jack turned to Nisha, gesturing at Rhys with his hands, “Can you believe this Nish?”

 

Nisha just shrugs in response, and remains watching the interaction.

 

“Okay Rhys, I’ll let it slide because it’s your first day, but just so you know, I’ve killed wholesale ass for a lot less than that.”

 

Rhys knows he’s right, but can’t help the small sigh of relief that escapes him. That seems to make Jack feel better, knowing he’s scared Rhys and made his point.

 

Rhys has little time to relax as Jack goes for his arm and Rhys automatically jerks it away, but Jack’s grip remains firm and he holds it still in his hands to inspect it.

 

“I really would expect more from someone of your skill, but we’ll get the prosthetics department to help you.”

 

Rhys’ face scrunched up as he remembers his back-up arm is equipped, not the normal one. “The bandits took my other one when I was kidnapped, this is just a back up one I keep around in case something happens.”

 

“Mmm, yeah but still, anyways, was this connected?” Jack asks, gesturing to where Rhys’ Echoeye used to be.

 

“My arm and eye were connected. The shoulder socket messed up during my time with the bandits, but I was able to fix that. But I can’t really replace a ripped Echo.”

 

Jack swears he’s gonna punch the kid if he mentions the bandits one more time. Doesn’t this guy know that Jack already knows everything? Wow.

 

“Sure, we’ll get that fixed also, yours was probably older anyways. Don’t worry, Hyperion will patch you up right in new, and in return you’ll make use some shiny new guns! Sound good cupcake? Good. Axton here will take you down to medical, they’ll evaluate your eye and everything. I’ll give you the remainder of the day to settle in, sleep, whatever it is you need to do, and you’ll return here tomorrow. Axton will give you all the boring details that I don’t wanna. Oh! and with your bag of cool things- just bring it tomorrow and we’ll evaluate it then.”

 

Jack’s emotions seem to be back to how they were previous to Rhys’ introduction, able to bounce back effortlessly. Rhys was glad for it, but stashes the information away for reference. 

 

Just like that, Rhys’ had met Handsome Jack, in what could be considered the strangest interaction he’d had to date.

 

Just like that Jack turns on his heel back to Nisha, waving a goodbye over his shoulder carelessly.

 

Just like that, the sweet secretary from before escorts them out.

 

Just like that Rhys realizes he’s so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh!! Hope you guys enjoyed. Also you know what I said about writing at 4 am? What I actually meant was 6 am, it's way worse. Anyways, this was a bit longer than I had meant for it to be, but I felt like I deprived you guys of their meeting long enough so I wanted to give it to you....also don't worry Jack/Nisha is not the ship of this fic, it's def Jack/Rhys, but I thought I'd stick some canon relationships in the beginning, it's self-indulgent. 
> 
> More to come! Rhys catches feelings, Jack has a crisis, and mischief ensues! 
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @rhysiebaby


	4. Chapter 4

As Jack had said, Axton had taken Rhys straight to medical. Their nurses there has looked at Rhys’ stitches intensely, causing him to wonder if they thought that they were poorly done. Not that he cared, they’d worked and he wasn’t bleeding, and it’s not like they would rip them out just to redo them.

 

A surgeon had come in after that to examine his left eye, using a small flashlight to observe it, asking Rhys to look each way before she began speaking. 

 

“Yep, it’s messed up pretty good. I’m actually more surprised with how cleanly your eye has healed, considering the conditions it was removed in.”

 

She didn’t say it with an ounce of pity, and Rhys was grateful at her ability to treat him like an actual human. Someone on this space station had to eventually.

 

She ducked down to look at it one more time, using her finger to pull at Rhys’ lower lid. 

 

Rhys glanced around awkwardly, unsure if he should look at her, or somewhere else. When she stood up she instantly began flipping through pages on her clipboard looking for somewhere to write. She talked as she did so, addressing Rhys with a tone akin to boredom.

 

“You can get surgery to replace it. It’s optional, but I’m guessing you’d like to see out of both eyes.” She glanced up at Rhys, who nodded quietly.

 

“But, the places where your implant were originally have scarred almost completely, so hooking the cybernetics back up will be more invasive than the first surgery. Your port doesn’t look too impaired, mostly as if it suffered some wire damage. Nothing dangerous, but it’s mostly useless in it’s state, so you should have that fixed too.”

 

Rhys agreed. Life without his cybernetics was weird, having to manually scan things with his Echo was a pain, and without the constant feed of information his brain felt like it was running on low.

 

“So when can I schedule it? The surgery?” Rhys asked. His schedule was at the control of Handsome Jack he presumed, but seeing as it was his first day on Helios-  _ back on _ Helios really- his itinerary seemed relatively empty.

 

“Of course the dates will have to be cleared with whoever your higher up is, and I’ll check it against the ones already scheduled, but I can’t say that we’ll keep you waiting for more than three days, at the most. All the surgery is conducted via robotics, so it’s mostly a matter of double checking their programs, and getting the replacement materials for your eye.”

 

The proposition of surgery, while a relief to know he’d gain full control of his higher functioning robotics systems back, was daunting at the least. The first one had him in pain for weeks, half his face had been swollen, accompanied by hypersensitivity to light,  _ and  _ it had gotten infected afterwards.

 

It was not an experience he was keen to relive. 

 

Rhys looked up as the doctor, who had yet to introduce herself, wheeled a small table over the the exam table Rhys was sitting on. Layed on it were several syringes, one empty, the rest filled with clear fluids, each faintly tinted a different color. 

 

The first one picked up was the empty one, and Rhys watched in silence as the woman swabbed his arm before beginning to draw blood. 

 

After finishing she started administering the shots, and Rhys looked at how many were lined up. His arm would be sore as shit for the next couple of days. Along with every other part of his body to match.

 

Rhys silently contemplated the idea that maybe she was giving him so many shots because she was worried he was inherently contaminated of some sort by being from Pandora. He tampered down his forming anger in favor of speaking.

 

“So what about my endotype?” he asked, looking at the woman as she prepped another needle.

 

“What about it?” she questioned back, eyes still focused on his arm.

 

“Well, when I was being held, they messed with it, I couldn’t see, but something’s not right anymore.”

 

She finished pushing the fluid into his veins, and set the syringe down to look at him. She gave a small gesture to his neck, “Can I?”

 

Rhys nodded, leaning his head to the side as she pulled his shirt collar away to look at sensitive skin there.

 

She hummed lightly before stepping back and resuming the work on his arm. 

 

“Well, you’ve got track marks there, but there’s no way to tell what the injected you with, it’ll be out of your system by now. Endotype modification and torture is still relatively practiced underground, so there’s not much information on it. Nothing strange about it is written in your physical, so it’s mostly your scent. My suggestion is to not allow anyone touch or mess around with it for awhile and let it sort itself out. Bodies are good with that.”

 

She finished the with the last syringe and moved the table back to the side of the room. 

 

“Well, that’s it. Don’t pop anymore stitches, and your body should be good to go with surgery in a couple days. And oh yeah, check with your boss about the dates and all. But you can leave now.”

 

Rhys slid off from his spot on the exam table, giving a short thank you before grabbing his bag of prototypes, pulling the door open and stepping into the antiseptic smelling hallway. Axton was waiting for him, and Rhys was slightly irritated that he had a babysitter.

 

“Not a babysitter, a bodyguard. I’m here to make sure you don’t leave Helios or go somewhere you’re not supposed to, or die.” Axton said on the elevator ride back to Rhys’ new apartment.

 

“So basically a babysitter.” Rhys responded, arms crossed.

 

The soldier let out a sigh. He didn’t get paid enough to have to endure all this bad talk about him.

 

“I did rescue your dying ass from a bandit camp, y’know. In case you were wondering who did that. It was me.”

 

Rhys rolled his eyes as he stepped off the elevator. He did know it was Axton, and was actually thankful for getting him out of there, but hadn’t actually thanked him yet. Rhys was from a violent, unruly desert planet, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have any manners. 

 

Rhys turned to look at Axton as they reached the door, already putting his hand on the scanner, and leaning in for the scan on eye his as well. 

 

“Yes, thank you for letting me not die in some hole underneath a camp full of psycho’s.”

 

Polite as Rhys was, there was no way he was going to say  _ rescued  _ or  _ hero  _ when describing Axton’s actions.

 

“No, but seriously thanks, it sucked down there.”

 

What an understatement.

 

Axton seemed to understand though, and didn’t press Rhys further. He just nodded before looking at his Echo and speaking. 

 

“Tomorrow, I’ll come get you at nine, per Jack’s request. You’re to bring your stuff.” He gestured to Rhys’ bag without looking up. “In the meantime, don’t leave your room, the bioscanner in the doorway will shockyou if you do. Uh, yep. That’s all, pretty simple.”

 

Rhys nodded, waiting for Axton to make a move to leave before closing the door. He sent Axton a questioning look, waiting for him to do something. 

 

“Oh, I have to watch you close your door, and then set the bio scanner timer all that. I’m not just waiting.” Axton said, registering Rhys’ look.

 

“Ah. Okay then. Goodbye, I guess?” 

 

Axton quirked a smile at Rhys’ awkwardness, and watched in silence as Rhys stepped inside and gave a short wave before closing the door.

 

These nerd types always managed to be so fucking weird.

 

* * *

 

 

Jack walked back to his desk, and sat down in his chair, spinning it to look at Nisha who was now casually sitting on the corner to his left. He gave a short moment of consideration before he addressed her again.

 

“He was really weird right? I mean it’s probably the first time someone’s had the balls to address me like that on their first meeting. I respect it, in kind of an annoyed way.”

 

Nisha just shrugged, nodding a little.

 

“Well, you did only talk to him for ninety seconds, but sure he’s weird. A little feisty, and I like it. Really thought you would’ve done a more in depth interview before releasing him on to your space station though.” 

 

By that Nisha meant she thought it was pretty stupid Jack didn’t take the time to assess him before letting him leave. It was either a calculated move or carelessness, and Nisha didn’t see him getting a good deal out of either of those options. 

 

“Nisha, I’m not  _ stupid _ . Axton’s on his every move, plus with all the bio scanners and security protocols, he’s not really gonna get that far.”

 

Sure, the guy was smart. Really smart, but he wouldn’t risk leaving at this point. Not after Handsome Jack himself knew what his face looked like.

 

Nisha wasn’t convinced.

 

“He managed to get  _ out  _ of Helios, what you don’t think he can work his way  _ in _ ?” Nisha shot at him, eyebrow cocked.

 

Jack frowned. He wasn’t really in the mood to be questioned. Jack absentmindedly rubbed at his eye in an attempt to not shoot a retort right back.

 

It had been a relatively good day so far, and he was  _ not  _ going to let it be ruined by his own, or Nisha’s, antagonistic behavior. 

 

Nisha looked away from Jack, lazily glancing around the office as she continued. “I was the one who went and got him back, so I think technically speaking, I do have the most experience with him. And I’m saying that it wasn’t the best move”

 

He looked at her blankly, and she propped her feet up on the arms of his chair in challenge, and the two stared at each other.

 

Eventually Jack threw up his hands in exasperation, but didn’t break eye contact.

 

“Fine! You want me to call the kid back up here and make him sit in those chairs in front of us, and the two of us will go at ‘im and watch him squirm?” Jack paused “Wait, Nish that might be a-”

 

Nisha smiled. Annoying the hell out of the boy and making him nervous would be a fun way to spend time with Jack, and get back at the twerp for the shit he pulled back at his cave-house.

 

But no. She wasn’t gonna stay up on the space station for long (she needed to maintain her Sheriff presence after all), and she wasn’t going to spend her time tormenting some programmer. 

 

Her smile broadened, and she leaned forward, looming over Jack from where he sat in his chair, leering in a stereotypical power play move. 

 

Jack’s mouth twitched into a smile. Finally he was catching on. 

 

“I’ll pass on the interrogation, besides my idea is way more fun.” Nisha purred, a violent glint to her eyes.

 

Jack let out a quiet “Hell yeah” before Nisha descended on him. 

 

* * *

 

 

Nisha was right. The bio scanners, Axton, the ever present threat at being shot at by one of the turrets in the hallway, nothing, kept Rhys in his room. 

 

He wasn’t even  _ wanting  _ to leave. He swore to himself that he was going to try and remain on Jack’s good side (if he even had one), in an attempt to protect his friends. Escaping his room, wandering around Helios, all when told not to, seemed like a purposefully disobedient act against Jack’s and Rhys’ own wishes. 

 

But as they say, curiosity killed the cat, and Rhys apparently had zero sense of self preservation on top of that.

 

However, before escaping his room, he  _ really did _ try to stay. 

 

Rhys took the time to shower in his apartments  _ incredible  _ bathroom. The eight different shower heads took the Pandora dirt clean off of him in seconds. Rhys felt a twinge of guilt as he watched the redness of the dirt slide down the drain, and maybe some homesickness on the side. From the kidnapping, to Helios, escaping back to his house in the Highlands, to being brought  _ back _ to Helios… well, he missed the familiarity of his own things.

 

Rhys tried to push the thoughts from his mind, focusing instead on the steady thrum of the water. He waited until he began to prune before stepping out, and debated putting on the Hyperion sweat pants that were in the dresser when he arrived.

 

His pair probably needed to be washed, but he needed the comfort of them. Plus, Rhys didn’t know if he could look at himself in the mirror, fully clad in Hyperion, and not have the urge to jump out off the massive space window. 

 

Contracting with them felt different from working directly for them. He felt owned, and like the Hyperion stench of murder was already on him.

 

He opted for his own clothes.

 

He also finally decided to call his friends and explain everything to them.

 

Rhys grabbed his Echo from where he had zipped it into his bag of blueprints and models, and began calling.

 

As soon as the other end picked up, and loud “Rhys!” rang out.

 

“Hey Sasha, it’s me….so not dead, yay!” 

 

From the other line he could hear a distant call of “Rhys?” which he guessed what Fiona after hearing Sasha’s shriek.

 

“Rhys? Is that you? Where are you, you dumbass?” That was definitely Fiona, and her voice became louder as she got closer to the Echo.

 

“Well, I know you’re gonna hate it, and so do I, so don’t hate  _ me _ , but I’muponhelios.” Rhys rushed out, wincing as he prepared for the onslaught of yells from the pair on the other end.

 

Rhys could stand up to Nisha, stand up to Handsome Jack, both physically and psychologically imposing Alpha’s, but not up to his best friends. Maybe it was because he knew them, and they knew  _ him _ so well. Jack and Nisha would kill him, but Sasha and Fiona could probably hurt him worse. 

 

“ _ What?!”  _ Rhys couldn’t tell which of the girls had said that. It was probably both.

 

“They were the ones to get me out of the camp- and in return I work for them a little, plus I have a deal to guarantee your safety, and-  _ and,  _ do you know what this means for you guys? No more cons, no more almost dying every Tuesday, it’s worth it.”

 

“Rhys! There’s a big difference in selling your things to Hyperion, and actually  _ being  _ Hyperion! They’re dangerous and you know that, our safety is basically a trade off for yours, so it’s not any better!” Sasha exclaimed in a turmoil of emotion. Rhys was alive, Rhys was okay, but Rhys would probably get murdered up on Helios. It wasn’t worth a stupid lifestyle change.

 

Fiona sighed, and Rhys mirrored the action.

 

“Look Rhys, you’ve been gone for months, with nothing but some fucking code to tell us you’re alive, and you being up on Helios, no matter what it does for us, is like losing you again. Handsome Jack hates Pandora, how will he feel about you being on his stupid little space station?” Fiona questioned. Her voice was so familiar, but it was making him feel sick to his stomach with guilt.

 

Strange how family could do that to you.

 

At this point Rhys decided to not tell them about his office arrangements. 

 

“I know” he said, “I know that it’s probably a bad idea, but I’m good at not dying, right?” he let out a nervous laugh. “I mean, I survived the bandits, countless jobs gone wrong, guns malfunctioning, I’m not gonna let some stupid corporate junkies get to me.” His bravado was clearly faked, but he was too emotionally tired to try harder.

 

“Rhys? Just be careful. And get your gangly ass back down here as soon as you can alright?” That was Fiona again. Rhys didn’t know if Sasha had left out of anger or was just being silent. Both haunted him.

 

“I will Fi, and you guys too. Not the gangly ass thing, but the being careful, you know what I mean.”

 

Fiona laughed shallowly before she hung up.

 

Rhys didn’t know if he had felt worse in his life.

 

The conversation left him feeling empty. There were so many things he had wanted to explain to them, to reassure them about, not to mention the actual technicals of his deal with Nisha that they should probably know. 

 

It left him empty and twitchy and it was ultimately the cause of him breaking out of his room. Damned emotions always causing trouble

 

* * *

 

 

Rhys ended up in the prosthetics labs. Bypassing the bio scan on his door was easy, and surprisingly Axton wasn’t physically there to stop him from leaving either. So Rhys set off in his pajamas, Echo in tow, in search of something. It didn’t really matter what at this point, he mostly just wanted his mind off of Sasha and Fiona.

 

Ending up in the prosthetics labs was pure chance. They were empty, and had the same cleanliness and brightness as the medical floor did. Jack had told Rhys that he was going to need an arm upgrade, and Rhys only trusted himself to do it. With all the tools and space at his disposal, as well as his now free night do to them, now seemed like a fine time. 

 

There wasn’t actually anything wrong with the arm besides it’s more obvious industrial build, which just gave for more crude aesthetics. The innards of it were solid, maybe a little out of shape because he hadn’t used it, but otherwise good. 

 

So Rhys set off to look for replacement wires and newer panels for the sides of it, maybe a new projector for his palm if he happened to stumble across one. Afterall, if it was going to get linked with his eye again, he didn’t want bad image quality.

 

Settling down at a clear workbench, he detached his arm and laid it out fully extended on the table in front of him. He moved the box of parts he had collected to the lower left corner, placing them aside until he removed all of the existing panels. 

 

He started on the forearm, dismantling it first, setting the delicate screws in a small cup beside him. He moved up to his robotic biceps, and around the curve of his shoulder before he ended at the hand. It was easily the most intricate part of the arm, because the mechanics were not only so small, but he could very easily not set something right, which could cause a warped projection, or shortages in his fingers.

 

He took his time, removing the plate from the back of his hand first, then then the four separate ones of his palm. Rhys thought about removing all of the individual panels that made up his fingers, but there were probably over forty, varying in four sizes. They were old and a little boxy, but it would take at least another two hours. He’d wait and see the time when he finished with the main bulk.

 

Then came the matter of replacing the projector. Luckily, this model didn’t include the glass slides in the palm like the newest line Hyperion had released, so it was just the process of installing a new projector piece, not each part individually. To be up to speed with the current models Rhys would have to replace the entirety of his hand (which he wanted, and would someday, but for now  would take  _ way  _ too much time). 

 

After connecting the projector, replacing some miscellaneous wires around the joint of his elbow, recalibrating the weights in his forearm, and screwing in all the new panels - which were  _ of course  _ Hyperion yellow - Rhys was finished for the night. 

 

He reattached his arm, which was actually looking pretty good. There were no mechanical changes for now, but it was looking sexy. Plus the methodical act of working on it had successfully taken his mind off Sasha and Fiona.

 

He glanced at the clock imbedded in the desk,  _ 2:45 AM  _ it read, which was actually a lot more timely than he expected. But he had been dropped at his room pretty early, and the phone call had been painfully brief, so he hadn’t started as late has he thought. Time was weird on Helios, and Rhys was used to working at odd hours. 

 

He placed things best as he could back in their respectful spots, because it would probably be obvious he was there, but he didn’t have to leave it a mess. Giving his hand another turn, and his shoulder a roll to make sure it felt right, he left the labs and retreated to his own rooms.

 

What was surprising what that Helios was a lot more silent than he expected. When Nisha and him had arrived in the Hub of Heroism, tons of people were milling about, leaving and arriving constantly which left the room with an underlying buzz of action at all times. Rhys had just assumed that the space station would never sleep, that someone would always be awake, but it didn’t seem like it now. 

 

When he arrived back to his new quarters Rhys gave a fleeting glance out the huge window. The lights were mostly off, but everything was glowing, just as it had been in Jack’s office. He wondered if it was intentional.

  
  


Rhys settled into bed, staring out over Elpis, and fell asleep with cold emotions curling in his gut.

 

* * *

 

 

As Axton said, he came by at nine. Rhys had already been up for the past hour, trying to navigate the kitchen, doing so unsuccessfully. He was already dressed when Axton arrived, and was attempting to make coffee when he let himself in.

 

Rhys worked on robots, made guns, built machines nine thousand times more powerful than this coffee maker in his spare time, but he  _ could not figure the damn thing out _ . All he wanted was coffee. He felt personally attacked by the world.

 

Axton watched quietly from the side of the room, still unseen by Rhys. It was only when Rhys let out a particularly aggravated “agh” that Axton responded with laughter, and Rhys jumped.

 

“Sorry, just funny how you can’t make coffee. But you can make guns. Just funny.”

 

Rhys shot him an irritated look. He had technically been awake for an hour, but wasn’t  _ awake  _ awake yet.

 

“Anyways, sorry man. Haven’t got time for it, we’re leaving now.”

 

Rhys slumped a little. He didn’t like to think of himself as someone who was totally dependent on caffeine to make them function, but who was he kidding. 

 

He stalked past Axton towards the door, and Axton watched Rhys with his brow furrowed. The arm was new. 

 

“What’s with the improvement?” He asked, nodding at Rhys’ arm.

 

Rhys didn’t have a good excuse. Say he brought it with him as an extra? Seemed doubtful, and Rhys thought Axton could probably see through any lie he gave him.

 

The truth wasn’t even that bad, because he hadn’t terrorized Helios when he left his room, or really stolen anything (materials used without permission doesn’t count as stealing, at least not in Rhys’ mind).

 

“I uh, went against what you said and left. I didn’t do anything bad, and I don’t know why you thought I couldn’t escape in the first place. But, I found the prosthetics lab and I was already there, and it’s not like I did major upgrades, it’s mostly just for looks. Anything else would be too much time.”

 

Axton rolled his eyes. He didn’t think that Rhys wouldn’t escape the room, it wasn’t even extremely well guarded, which he had thought about asking about Jack but decided to let him deal with it. 

 

“Alright kid, I don’t personally care, but you’ll have to explain it to Jack. So let’s grab that bag of yours and get going.”

 

Rhys tiredly agreed, picking up the bag as he stepped through the door, and slung it over his shoulder. 

 

The journey to Jack’s office felt shorter now, now that he had actually met the man, and his lack of sleep dampened his nerves slightly, but it was still insane to think about. Working with Handsome Jack, under him, within his space constantly. Still scary.

 

Rhys looked at Axton out of the corner of his eye, wondering if he’d be a part of the routine everyday. The whole concept of the mercenary working for Jack seemed strangely surreal, along with Nisha as well. Axton had Dahl written all over him, literally as far as the chevrons on his brow went. Nisha didn’t have a single Hyperion gun on her when she came and got him either. 

 

Handsome Jack didn’t seem to be surrounded with people that promoted his brand, which was strange. Except for Rhys, who was already looking more Hyperion by the hour with his newly yellow arm. That he still had to explain to Jack.

 

Rhys broke the silence, still not looking at Axton. “So…Is this going to be an everyday thing, or like do I eventually get permission to ride elevators on my own and all that?”

 

Axton smirked, “No, I leave today. Jack doesn’t seem to think you’ll be leaving soon, so I don’t really need to keep you here. He must have something over you to think that.”

 

_ Sasha and Fiona  _ Rhys thought with a jolt of panic. He had told Nisha about them as part of their deal, but he doesn’t know if she told Jack about them or not. There was no point in asking for their safety if Handsome Jack knew about them.

 

Axton could smell Rhys’ fear, and looked at him, as he continued “Hey, like I said, he doesn’t kill people for the fun of it, so just don’t do anything stupid. Don’t betray him or something like that. You’ll be okay.”

 

Rhys swallowed around the lump in his throat, searching his mind for something witty to say to get Axton off the subject. He came up empty handed, and remained looking at the doors of the elevator until they opened to reveal the waiting room before Jack’s office.

 

The same woman from yesterday was seated at round desk close to the door, presumably his secretary or assistant. She looked up from her monitor when Axton and Rhys entered, giving a short smile.

 

“Handsome Jack isn’t in yet, but he’s asked for you just to go in and get your things ready. Can I get you anything?”

 

Rhys suppresses the urge to ask for coffee, the fear waking him up. He shakes his head at her, giving a tight smile. The woman just nods, pressing a button to open the door, and goes back to reading whatever’s pulled up on her monitor.

 

If Rhys had his Echo eye he could scan her screen, but he’ll get it back soon enough. He allows Axton to continue to lead the way into the office, and Rhys’ eyes fall immediately on the desk towards the right of the room. It has to be his, unless someone else is also coming up to work with him. Or he’s expected to stand, which Rhys wouldn’t put past Jack.

 

Either way, he walks over to it, surveying the array of instruments on it. Like the bench in his apartment, it has fine tools, but his desk here includes two monitors, along with a tablet of some kind, and blueprint paper stacked neatly. There’s hinges on the side of the desk, for angling it upward if he wanted to draft. It’s lacking a few of Rhys’ normal things, but it’ll be fine.

 

He sets his bag down next to the chair behind the desk, which looks incredibly comfortable Rhys thinks, but nothing compared to the one behind Jack’s desk. Eyeing the distance between his and Jack’s desk, Rhys thinks it’s solidly twenty five feet, which is a small relief. Working in close quarters will be tense, but being  _ right next to  _ Jack would kill the omega.

 

He runs his flesh hand along the edge of the desk in contemplation, and kneels down to zip open his bag. Axton pays him little attention, looking through his Echo in contemplation on what job offer to take up after he leaves the space station. 

 

Rhys begins pulling blueprints out of his bag first, unfurling them and smoothing them out on the desk, stacking them before placing small orbs on either side of the sheets to flatten them. He continues to unload everything, sorting the prototypes by category, and whether or not he thinks they’d make good products.

 

Of course there were some things he didn’t bring. Not that Nisha knew when he gathered his stuff, or that Jack knew either. He didn’t even think about bringing Gortys, unsure of what Handsome Jack might do with her power. It had bad idea written all over it.

 

Some of the things he did bring were more personal though. Like a small robot, only five inches high that could do little more than walk and take simple commands. It was one of the first he had made, and  it mostly kept it out of nostalgia. It was affectionately given the acronym TCR by Rhys when he was younger, and it managed to stick throughout the years. It was no use to Hyperion, but Rhys wanted to keep it with him.

 

As he finished unpacking, Jack strode into the room, briskly walking to his desk with coffee in hand, and smelling vaguely of Nisha. Rhys remained crouched beside his desk, out of Jack’s view.

 

“Kid, what the hell are you doing, would you stand up.” Jack exclaimed after a deep swallow of coffee.

 

Apparently not as out of view as he thought. Rhys stood up, smoothing his hands down his front, ignoring Axton’s faint chuckle.

 

“Well princess, get over here. I need to talk to you and I haven’t got all day.”

 

Rhys cringed internally at the pet name, hoping it wouldn’t stick. 

 

* * *

 

 

Jack’s morning had been good by his standards. Nisha hadn’t left yet when he woke up, but her clothes were off the floor, so she was dressed and probably preparing to.

 

Jack stood up and stretched, allowing the muscles in his back to relax. He yelled into the hallway at the general direction of the kitchen to Nisha.

 

“Make me a cup would ya?”

 

“Make it yourself!” Nisha yelled back.

 

But sure enough, when Jack emerged from his shower, there was coffee. She could be nice if she wanted. Nisha was sitting at the counter, flicking through her Echo when Jack walked in, towel around his waist.

 

“You leaving so soon? Thought we could have like crazy marathon sex to make up for not seeing each other in months.” He wiggled his eyebrows over his cup, smiling at Nisha as he drank.

 

“No, got people to keep in line, bandits to kill, and no time to stay here on your fun sex space station.” She said, grinning slightly.

 

“That whole Sheriff thing is crazy hot you know that right?”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

Jack finished his coffee, placing the cup in the sink, his scarred back to Nisha now. 

 

“So what do you think of the kid?” She asked.

 

“What do you mean what do I think about him” Jack said flatly, not sure what she was getting at.

 

“I mean, he’s kinda hot too.” 

 

Jack turned to face her, shrugging. “I mean yeah, crazy long legs and all that stuff, but something’s a little off about him though, couldn’t place his scent. Also sort of an asshole, but you know, I was expecting it. People who work in weapons are like that.”

 

“ _ You  _ work in weapons, Jack.”

 

“I don’t  _ work  _ in weapons Nish, I practically  _ own  _ weapons. Well, of course I own weapons, but I own the industry is what I’m getting at.”

 

Nisha bit her tongue to not mention why he had been looking for Rhys in the first place. That is, the massive sales drop. She wasn’t going to fight right before she left, even though it’d probably end up in more sex.

 

She left the topic and went back to Rhys. “It was endotype torture, pretty sure at least. That’s why his scent is so, gone.”

 

Jack hummed in acknowledgement. That’s fucked up stuff.

 

Nisha hopped off her stool, giving Jack a slap on the butt as she walked past him towards the door.

 

“See ya later tiger, don’t do anything stupid.” She called out over her shoulder, although telling Jack not to do anything stupid was mostly a hopeless cause.

 

\-----

 

When Jack entered his office later that morning, both Axton and Rhys’ backs were to him, and Rhys seemed to be unloading things from his bag at the sight of the piles of things on his desk. 

 

Those would be fun to get into, new stuff was always cool.

 

He sat down at his desk, ignoring Axton and expecting Rhys to stand up and look at him, or at least recognize his presence in the room. 

 

Was he hiding behind his desk?

 

“Kid, what the hell are you doing, would you stand up.” Jack commanded .

 

Rhys popped up from behind his desk, brushing himself off.

 

“Well princess, get over here. I need to talk to you and I haven’t got all day.” Jack said expectantly, eyebrows raised.

 

He turned on his monitor and signed in, glancing back to where Rhys was walking towards him. Talk about legs, God. 

 

Wait, a new arm?

 

Jack looked at it closely as Rhys approached his desk. Still looking at it, he continued on with his expectant air.

 

“Explain.” Jack ordered simply.

 

The arm looked different, but still had the same skeletal shape, although the blue projector looked new. And that Hyperion yellow. Kid was wearing the brand already.

 

Rhys seemed slightly nervous under Jack’s gaze, a change of pace from his attitude yesterday.

 

“Well, I left the room-”

 

“Broke out of the room.” Jack interjected

 

“...Last night, and I found your prosthetic's labs on accident...and used them. The upgrades are mostly for show, I didn’t have time to replace a lot of the hardware.”

 

“And in my yellow, looks good on you.”

 

“This color doesn’t look good on anybody.” Rhys was fairly certain of that. 

 

Jack raised an eyebrow in warning at him, and leaned back in his seat, tearing his eyes away from Rhys.

 

“Well, while it doesn’t look so clunky anymore, you’ll still need to work on it. You also didn’t stay where I  _ told you  _ to, but you’re smart enough to know that the security was low on purpose.”

 

Rhys hadn’t really thought about that until Axton had brought it up, but it seemed like it was the truth. Or Jack’s security was bad and he was covering up. Rhys would have to explore that.

 

The CEO propped his foot up on his knee, and looked over at Axton.

 

“Alright you can leave now, to go kill people or whatever you do.” He waved dismissively, and Axton nodded to both Rhys and Jack before leaving through the doors at the front of the room.

 

“So Rhys, I’m gonna skip all the chit chat and dive right in on what you’re gonna do. Long term, I’m giving you a lot of creative control over part of our weapons section, basically, do what you did under contract, but now actually working for us. We’ll get you access to the labs and personnel and all when you’re ready. Short term, I want you to evaluate our last weapons line, and tell me what went wrong. Also I wanna see that stuff on your desk.”

 

Rhys turned to look back at his workstation, thinking about how to present and show everything.

 

Jack answered his question for him when he stood up and strode over to Rhys’ worktable, looking over everything appraisingly. 

 

Rhys stood on the adjacent side of the desk, and began to point through the piles and explaining their sorting. 

 

“Alright, so the blueprints are for things I’ve only drafted, hoping to work on in the future, but not really fleshed out. I can go through them individually if you want, but there wouldn’t be a point to it right now. This group is obviously gun prototypes. They’re separated based on type. I’ve only got one e-tech one right now, because lab grade Eridium was hard to find on Pandora. I had enough from the old Atlas site, and I used it to develop this pistol. But you’ve got way more Eridium than I did, so if you want me to develop it further I can. I want to, personally, but I can focus on other ones first.”

 

Rhys walked Jack through all the weapons and tech he had brought. An hour later when Meg had told Jack he had a meeting with marketing he’d asked her to move it. An hour after that when it was with R&D, he had that one moved too. Rhys was detailed with his explanations, but not boring. Eventually they migrated to the shooting range on level nine, because Jack was eager to test out what he could. 

 

For Rhys, having Jack’s undivided attention was nerve wracking, but surprisingly much easier than he thought. Either Jack was having a good day, or the rumors about him were false. 

 

At one point Jack had challenged the younger man to a contest of accuracy. Rhys had tried to make it clear that everything he made had great accuracy and aim, and that it was a little pointless because Jack didn’t need Rhys’ help to test the guns out. 

 

Rhys thought it must partially be because Jack doubted he was a good shot, which slightly irked the kid so he’d succumbed to the challenge. 

 

It ended with Jack letting out a low whistle and an accompanied crooked smile as Rhys unloaded the cartridge into the dead center of the target.

 

“I gotta say kiddo, I was wondering if you could actually use the guns you made, and you’ve proved yourself.”

 

Rhys rolled his eyes “Yeah, well I’m not just a pretty face.”

 

Being around Jack was weird, unexpectedly weird in a way Rhys didn’t want to think about. The infamously bad CEO was actually not a total dick all the time? He wasn’t always busy murdering people? Rhys kind of liked him? 

 

Rhys wondered what Sasha and Fiona would think about him now, being around Jack and not hating it.

 

Meanwhile, Jack was thinking that maybe this kid wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, now that all the introductions are done we can finally get to see Rhys and Jack together more! This was fun and I tried to include more abo things in it, don't know if I was successful though. Also was really trying to convey the guilt Rhys feels and all that.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Next chapter, much more exploration of the Rhys and Jack dynamic! Pain, love, hilarity! (Maybe some more characters to be introduced...?)
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr @rhysiebaby


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding? Getting to know each other a little better? Jealous, slightly protective Jack? You'll find it here!  
> Some drug mentions, kind of extensively talked about, although no descriptive use of any.

Rhys and Jack came to develop a relationship of...mutual understanding. Shortly put, it was strangely complex, one that baffled those around, including Rhys and Jack themselves.

 

Rhys came to recognize Jack’s moods quickly, and by the end of the month could anticipate Jack’s mood swings better than anyone else. Perhaps it was because he spent probably ninety percent of his time on Helios in Jack’s office. Jack liked him close, where he could watch him, and kept near constant tabs on him when he wasn’t with him. Not that Rhys was doing much else anyways. But it was still a little creepy.

 

Rhys had found and disabled the camera’s in his room the third night he was on Helios. Jack hadn’t put up much of a fight when Rhys confronted him, had only insisted it was for his safety, but if he wanted them gone then they could be gone.

But other than that, their dynamic was relatively balanced. Rhys did as he was assigned, producing work that was outstanding, and in turn Jack _tried_ not to kill anyone in front of Rhys. Jack couldn’t tell if the blood made him sick, or he just didn’t like the violence. Either way, Jack could be considerate when he remembered, and decidedly took the death down to the departments instead of to his office. It scared more people that way too.

 

However, this mutual understanding became strained as it interrupted Rhys getting laid.

 

Helios was big. Big enough to have a large dating pool and several bars to access said pool. And Rhys was not going to spend another night focused on mechanics, he wanted to feel skin on his and knew how to get it.

 

The night began with a _very_ low lit bar in what Rhys assumed was one of the higher end commercial districts. The light came almost exclusively from the red backlighting of the bar shelves, save for some glowing gems embedded in the West wall which was entirely dark wood. It was nice, sexy in a sort of way that made everyone feel anonymous, but to Rhys, nearly everyone on Helios was. Tonight he was working it in his favor.

 

Rhys slid up to the bar, sitting on one of the velvet stools with his forearms on the wood in front of him. The bartender was a curvy woman done in full makeup, and an omega from what Rhys could tell- his whole endotype being screwed with still wasn’t fixed, and was messing with his sense of smell. She was also _beautiful_ , in a way that made Rhys a tiny bit uncomfortable to be under her gaze.

 

She only smiled at him, toothy and vaguely calculated. “What can I get you honey?” she purred out and Rhys felt a little weak.

 

“Can I just have a club soda with lime, and could you make it look like a cocktail?” Rhys asked, slightly embarrassed that he was in such a high end bar not drinking. But Rhys had bad experiences with alcohol, and wasn’t going to let tonight turn into another.

 

The woman smiled knowingly at him. “Sure, or I can fix you up something with a little more flavor, and still take out the liquor. Anything I make is good.”

 

“Sure, surprise me.” Rhys said, allowing himself to relax. The bartender moved away from him, and Rhys scanned the room with his Echoeye, as well as for people. His eye revealed that he was right about it being one of the more upscale of Helios. Nearly everything was imported from Athenas, which was illegal _and_ came with a large price tag. There was no way that whoever owned this place was just in the restaurant industry. But that was none of Rhys’ business.

 

His regular scan of the room brought up several promising faces, including the bartender. Rhys personally thought she looked like she would eat him alive, and he really dug that, but felt she was miles out of his league.

 

Rhys made eye contact with several men and women, but gave them only fleeting glances of disinterest. Rhys getting fucked tonight was like scratching at an itch, because he felt like he wanted to have sex, and yet nobody was actually appealing to him.  


At the back of his mind an image of Jack appeared. Rhys wandered around the possibility for a second, imagining Jack’s tan skin, how it was probably scarred and rough underneath all those layers, and how it would probably feel _great_ against Rhys’. Rhys thought about how Jack was muscular, and broad shouldered, and so much bigger than Rhys.

 

Wait, no. Rhys was not going to think about this. Jack was a bad idea, from any angle it was looked at. Rhys shook his head a little, picking up the drink the woman behind the bar had given him. It actually was good, and gave the illusion that Rhys was drinking.

 

A man sat down a seat over from Rhys, leaning in when he ordered his drink. He slouched slightly, looking tired, and Rhys studied him. He had to be about the same age of Rhys, and maybe a little taller which was always a fun surprise, and he was cute. _Perfect_.

 

Rhys angled his body a little towards the stranger, crossing his right leg over his left leisurely. He waited until the man lifted his head to look around the room before Rhys turned to pick up his drink, allowing the man’s eyes to fall on him. Rhys slid his own gaze to meet that of the stranger and took a sip of his fake cocktail, holding eye contact through his lashes.

 

If the man blushed, Rhys couldn’t see. But he did give Rhys a soft smile, which Rhys returned with one of his own.

 

“Hey, I’m Eli.” he extended his hand toward Rhys, which Rhys took, not quite shaking it, but allowing it to linger before pulling away.

 

“Rhys.” The omega offered up as he set his glass down on the bar and allowed himself to be seduced.

 

* * *

 

 

The night progressed rather rapidly after that, as Rhys let the man continue to buy him drinks. Rhys half wondered if he was trying to get him drunk, or if he was just being polite. There wasn’t a downside as Rhys wasn’t going to get drunk, and would take the alcohol free drinks without protest.

 

Another thing Rhys took was the man back to his suite, or _almost_ to his suite.

 

Rhys was pressed up against the hallway wall in front of his door with the hot beta sucking bruises on the column of his throat, his hands gripping Rhys’ hips when Jack’s voice boomed from the ceiling.

 

“Rhys I need you at my office pronto, get your ass up here.” Jack spoke, almost like a god as his voice surrounded them.

 

Rhys groaned, placing his hands on the chest in front of him, and pushing his almost-fuck off of his body. The man looked at Rhys with something akin to confusion and fear, backing up.

 

“That’s me. So, I’ve gotta go now. Ugh, sorry about this, but you understand right? It being Handsome Jack and all?”

 

The man nodded in silence. Rhys allowed his shoulders to droop a little and sighed.

 

“Alright, see you around I guess?” Rhys said a little dejected, starting to walk towards the elevators.

 

“Wait! You’re not using me to cheat on Handsome Jack are you? I really don’t want to die because I accidentally almost had sex with his boyfriend without knowing it.”

 

Rhys kind of wanted to laugh, because if that were the case the dude would be dead by sunrise.

 

“Oh god, no. I’m not with the guy, just work with him.” Rhys cracked a little smile as he walked away.

 

 _Oh god, no?_ What the fuck, it would be a privilege to be in bed with Jack. Jack growled lowly to himself in annoyance as he watched Rhys from the monitor of his desk. _He_ should be the one saying ‘oh god no’ about _Rhys_. Not the other way around.

 

But then again it wasn’t like Jack wouldn’t fuck Rhys. He didn’t have _feelings_ for the kid, wasn’t _jealous,_ but didn’t need the young omega tangled up in a relationship when he was supposed to be working. He came here to work for Jack, and wasn’t going to be distracted by some shithead from marketing.

 

Jack had found out about Rhys’ night when the implant that Jack had covertly injected into the omega’s arm had began sending alerts to his echo. The small microchip measured Rhys’ basic vital signs, and when his pulse began to pick up it registered as unusual activity and sent a message to Jack. It was only a matter of keystrokes to find Rhys on the security camera’s of Helios, and an even shorter amount of seconds for Jack to interrupt the scene.

 

But, Jack hadn’t thought ahead, and with Rhys on his way up, needed an excuse for calling him. Fuck, was there anything that he could sign, or a stupid report that might have vital information?

 

Wait, Jack had never officially drafted up a contract for Rhys to work at Hyperion. They had signed a fast normal hire form so that he could begin working quickly, but Rhys probably needed something more extensive and catered to his specialties, because his position was unique.

 

Yeah, that’d be good.

 

Jack printed out two copies of the standard forms, and laid one out on the opposite side of his desk with Rhys’ name hastily written at the top, and a  pen next to it. He began annotating his own set, laying out specifications for Rhys’ work, detailing what his job meant exactly.

 

It was only three minutes more until Rhys stepped into the office, the heels of his shoes clacking harshly against the floor. Jack could tell by his pace he was slightly irritated, which brought him the smallest bit of joy. He looked at Rhys through his eyebrows as he approached, smirk barely playing across his lips.  

 

“What you angry cause I interrupted your fun?” Jack asked. He spotted the light bruises on Rhys’ neck from the corner of his eye. Guy couldn’t even give a damn hickie well. If anything he saved Rhys from a bad lay.

 

Rhys let out an annoyed huff as he sat down, already reaching to look at the papers. “A little. What’s this about.”

 

“We need to renegotiate your contract. Or negotiate it in the first place, since last time you just agreed to everything. You always go that easy?”

 

“You spelled my name wrong.” Rhys said in reply, unwilling to humor Jack.

 

“What?” Jack leaned over his desk a little to look at the packet.

 

“Yeah it’s spelled R-H-Y-S not R-E-E-S-E. Can you really not spell my name? You’ve seen it on other documents haven’t you?”

 

“Ughhh, whatever. Just let me start. I’m not gonna make you a department head because it’s horrible, plus you do all your work on your own for the most part, besides coordinating with Hotchkins and all for lab time and the actual building. But, I do want to give you some control over R&D and the design teams so that you can produce more, and you’d be the ultimate sign off.”

 

Rhys nodded. The idea itself was a little exhilarating, being in control of people, having more resources, developing his skills to maybe one day open up his own company (who knows).

 

“Can I see what you’ve written down?” Rhys asked, reaching for Jack’s version of the document.

 

Jack handed it over, letting Rhys read what he had gotten down in the short amount of time.

 

“You spelled my name wrong right here too.” Rhys pointed to the paper and raised his eyebrows as he looked at Jack. The older man only rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair to watch Rhys as he resumed his reading.

 

Rhys noted in the back of his mind that Jack wrote with a dramatic slant, and not quite cursive, but getting there. He also wrote like he was running out of time.

 

Rhys squinted at the bottom of the paper, unable to determine the messy words.

 

He turned around the papers for Jack to view pointing at the illegible sentence. “What does this say?”

 

Jack knew very well what he had written at the bottom of the page, but leaned in anyways to read it. “It says that you can’t have relationships while the contract is in place, distractions and all that, yada, yada, yada.”

 

Rhys narrowed his eyes at him, unable to determine how serious Jack was being. He hadn’t really been wanting to date someone but Jack saying he _couldn’t_ just made him want to.

 

Rhys wondered if it _was_ about the man from the bar, if Jack really didn’t want him to have something with him or if maybe he was jealous.

 

It didn’t make sense. Rhys and Jack had only known each other less than three months, and this was _Handsome Jack_ that’s in question. Of course Rhys had known about Jack, hell everyone did. Maybe Rhys looked up to him a little, at his determination and ruthlessness. Rhys wanted to be powerful like that one day.

He had the technical skills, the knowledge about weapons that if in theory he did want to, he could start a company. He didn’t have much expertise in commanding, but there’s no better way to learn than hands on.

 

But _still_ Rhys didn’t have that sort of control yet, doesn’t peg himself for Jack’s type. _Nisha_ is Jack’s type

 

But Jack pulling the plug on Rhys’ sex life was a no go. He had to plan for the future to some extent.

 

Rhys spared Jack an exasperated look before giving his attention to the paper in his hands. He drew a line through the added clause, making Jack release a put out noise. “Yeah, sorry, this is gotta go.”

 

Jack looked at him. People didn’t so openly question his orders. Even the ones without any real basis. “Are you serious?”

 

“Yeah Jack, are _you_ serious? It’s kind of an unfair restriction.”

 

“No it’s not, it’s completely valid. I can’t have you getting distracted on the job, cupcake.”

 

Rhys stared at him, partially convinced that it was a joke. “Well I’m not signing it, it’s stupid.”

 

Jack cocked an eyebrow, slightly annoyed now. Couldn’t he just _accept_ it and _move on_.

 

“You’re going to throw away this sweet ass contract, where you get paid a fuckton of money for something that’s easy to you, where you’re accommodated, and live on a goddam space station- just because you don’t agree with one little thing. Not to mention I rescued your dying ass from some bandit camp. I gotta say, I thought your pretty little head _wasn’t_ empty, but you’ve proved me wrong.”

 

Rhys wasn’t going to be manipulated or intimidated. He wasn’t going to lose this job, wasn’t going to lose the protection he had for Sasha and Fiona. Wasn’t going to lose having sex for godsake.

 

“Sp what happens if I go into heat? My endotype is already starting to repair itself, so it’s inevitable.” Rhys fired at him.

 

Jack reclined in his chair. He had a little bit of a point. He couldn’t go on suppressors his first heat after being off suppressors from his torture. But that was like a speciality case.

 

“So when’s your next heat?” Jack asked, receiving a stare from Rhys.

“You know, you can’t legally ask me that.” Rhys deadpanned.

 

Jack huffed. “I can-”

 

“Even in that quick fix contract I signed, it details that out. Anyways, it’s not like I would know, I’m not exactly on a normal schedule.”

 

Rhys maintained his stare, and so did Jack.

 

 _God, this kid is being annoying_ Jack thought to himself. It was only a stupid contract.

 

“Fine. But if it _does_ get in the way of your job, it’s final and I’m killing them.”

 

Whatever shock Rhys felt, he didn’t show it. He instead put the papers on the table, signed them, and passed them back to Jack. Jack, still slightly unamused, signed them as well. Rhys got up without a word, walking back to the elevator doors.

 

He paused to look over his shoulder, speaking. “Before you type those up, make sure my name is spelled right. And get out of your office if you can. You’ve got to have a penthouse you can go to, right? Don’t spend the night here, _again_.”

 

“Why, Rhysie it’s almost as if you care.” Jack retorted, entertained by Rhys’ typical omega behavior.

 

Rhys only laughed lowly as he left the office.

 

* * *

 

 

Jack did go back to his penthouse, and took a shower before he pulled out his laptop and settled against the wall at the end of his bed as he resumed his work.

 

Hours passed and eventually Jack turned off the lights to sit in the dark to type. Another hour passed and he slid his laptop from his legs to stand and stretch. The clock read close to five, and he weighed the pros and cons of going to bed at this time.

 

He could always just not go in, it was _his_ company. But he’d be bored, and eventually left alone with himself would do something bad.

 

It was best to just go to sleep, wake up in three hours and run off pure manic energy. Not entirely healthy, but efficient. Maybe he could get Rhys to tour the gun labs with him and show off their new prototypes. God, anything. He was getting uptight from being in the office too much.

 

Time to have some fun and kill people.

 

When morning came around Jack was in his office before Rhys, bright and energized as ever. He was sitting on the front edge of his desk, fiddling with his Echo, but clearly waiting for Rhys.

 

When the doors to his office opened Jack whipped his head up, already walking towards Rhys. Rhys stopped in his tracks as Jack approached him and grabbed his arm, twirling him around back to the doors.

 

“What’s happening?” Rhys asked, but still allowing himself to be pulled by Jack.

 

“It’s an out of office day, Rhysie! We’re gonna walk around Helios and tour some labs, and terrorize some nerds!” Jack exclaimed.

 

“Can I at least put my bag down first?” Rhys asked pulling against Jack lightly.

 

Jack kept his grip firm and pulled Rhys through the doors of his office back into the hallway. “Sure thing, kiddo. Here.” he quickly slipped the strap down Rhys’ arm without moving, and placed it on the desk of his secretary.

 

“Hey Jack, slow down what the hell”

 

“What, legs like that and you still can’t keep up? We’ve got places to be!” Jack continued with his pace, towing Rhys behind him by the arm.

 

When the pair got to the elevator Rhys pulled his arm from Jack’s grip, and smoothed down the front of his shirt.

 

“God it’s not like you can’t be late, can we not break the sound barrier walking?”

 

The elevator doors opened and Jack scanned his palm before inputting level 19 as the destination.

 

 _Huh,_ Rhys thought, _one of the lower levels_. Rhys had access to much of the station, probably including the labs where they were going now, but generally stayed confined to Jack’s office, his rooms, and the prototype range. Sometimes he ventured into the commercial districts, but rarely so, with the exception of the bar last night.

 

As the elevator slowed to a stop, Jack motioned for Rhys to lead the way. He did so willingly, eyes observing the empty corridor before him.

 

He turned to look back at Jack questioningly, who only gave a smug smiled in response, nodding towards the end of the hall. Rhys rolled his eyes at the apparent air of mystery that was attempting to be cultivated and walked down the hallway. There were no windows facing the stars or Pandora, as there were in most places. The lighting flickered and the walls were a dark green.

 

Overall, it seemed extremely out of place for Helios.

 

As they got closer to the end wall, Rhys spotted another palm scanner, and waited for Jack to place his hand on it.

 

“Well kitten, aren’t you gonna scan yourself and let us in?” Jack asked from behind Rhys.

 

Rhys placed his flesh hand against the pad, allowing for the light to roam down it before it flashed red.

 

Rhys sighed with exasperation, and looked at Jack again. “It won’t let me in.”

 

“Course not! It only lets me in! Kudos for trying though.”

 

“You _told_ me to try. Why didn’t you just let us in first?”

 

Jack ignored the question, eyes fixed on wall in front of them as sounds of bolts sliding, and the wall (door?) heavily slid open like a bank vault.

 

The room in front of them was barely better lit than the hallway, but Rhys could clearly see the figures in front of them, all leaning over various pieces of lab equipment.

 

“Okay, so it’s a top secret lab, what for?” Rhys questioned as he stepped in behind Jack,

 

“So, as you very well know, Hyperion makes weapons. A couple other weird things too. But oh Rhysie, this is _next level_.” Jack grinned darkly, leading his companion deeper into the room.

 

As Rhys passed the people conducting their lab work, he noted how none of them had scents, almost like he hadn’t after escaping the bandit camp. It was creepy if anything.

 

“Why can’t I smell any of them?” Rhys asked, quickening his pace to walk next to Jack.

 

“Oh, that was something they all collectively chose to do. I thought it was weird too when like this whole group of fifty people asked to have their endotype permanently ya know... _removed_ , but whatever. I don’t really question their decisions.”

 

Rhys paused to look over a vacant lab table, noting the presence of several dark blue and purple powders, accompanied by various sized pill capsules. Jack was soon beside him. Hands clasped behind his back as he leaned down to look next to Rhys.

 

“A little freaky right? It’s kind of a cult down here, don’t get left behind.”

 

Suddenly, Rhys really, really didn’t want to. He followed Jack to a smaller, brighter lit room off the side of the hallway.

 

“Wait here.” Jack instructed, leaving Rhys in room alone. Rhys walked to edge of the room, and squinted through an observation window into an empty testing room. It held a bed with several straps laying loose beside it, and it sent a shiver up Rhys’ spine.

 

Jack returned shortly after with a small woman, whose eyes were wide and pupils dilated.

 

She roamed her eyes over Rhys before looking back to Jack.

 

“You brought a new test subject?” She asked, and Rhys stiffened, taking a step back.

 

“No, don’t touch him, or you’ll lose your hands.” Jack said, not sparing a glance at her.

 

The woman’s shoulders seemed to droop, but she nodded, “Very well.”

 

“Just tell us about the things laid out. Rhys, come here.”

 

Rhys stepped over to Jack, placing himself on the opposite side of the woman, allowing Jack to act as a barrier.

 

“Don’t worry about her, she’s harmless, probably. But who knows what drugs she’s on so maybe not. They test on themselves a lot.” Jack reassured.

 

Rhys felt the opposite of reassured, but kept his mouth shut, and followed the woman to the first display table. The dark powders he observed before were now in their capsules, accompanied by some lighter, gold flecked ones.

 

“Well go on” Jack prompted, “tell him what they do.”

 

The woman nodded with a toothy smile, and picked up the first pill.

 

“See, it’s a modified growth hormone. The purple coloring comes from the refined Eridium-”

 

“Slag?” Rhys asked, looking at Jack.

 

“Yeah, but we don’t really wanna call it slag, it sounds more industrial. But essentially, yes. Highly, _highly_ refined Eridium, so that it’s safe to consume.” Rhys looked like he was going to question it again but Jack cut him off “Just let her keep talking.”

 

“As I was saying” the woman continued, “refined Eridium. We got the idea after observing how Sirens could use it in its raw form. Obviously for a human, we cannot simply absorb it. An absurd notion, but we tried anyways. The test subjects died.” She looked at Rhys as she mentioned the test subjects and he moved away from her more.

 

“But indeed, highly refined it can be ingested in certain conditions. The problem is that the body must first be prepared through another pill, and it takes a substantial amount of time for the effects to completely wear off. The fatality rate it down to eight percent however.”

 

Rhys turned away from the table to look at Jack, who was sporting a slight grin. The woman continued her explanations behind Rhys, unaware, or simply ambivalent that her subject had stopped listening.

 

“Pretty cool right? One step closer to the superhuman. And that’s gonna be me.”

 

Rhys didn’t know what to think. It was definitely interesting, probably a worthwhile pursuit, and it had the potential for a large market. But the prospect was unnerving.

 

“I don’t know, I feel like it has to potential to be abused, like any drug. But this doesn’t get you high, it gives you superhuman abilities. It’s dangerous.” Rhys said, brow furrowed.

 

“C’mon, Rhys, it’s pretty fucking cool, admit it. But also you’re right, I haven’t decided if I want to mass produce it. No one should have that power but me.”

 

Rhys cracked a small smile. “I guess it is pretty cool.” He didn’t address that last part.

 

“Right! Okay, let’s get out of here before they use you for experimentation.” Jack said with a smile, already turning for the exit.

 

Rhys briskly caught up to him, eyes still wandering over the expansive laboratory as they made their way to the door.

 

“Do they ever leave here, or do they just live in their labs?” Rhys asked, again taking note of how absorbed in their work everyone was.

 

“Who knows pumpkin. They’ve all got apartments somewhere, but with their whole cult mentality and drug testing they might just work themselves to death. An ideal worker. I’m just kidding, but really if we stay here longer they get grabby.”

 

Rhys quickened his pace, subconsciously moving closer to the Alpha beside him.

 

Jack laughed, slinging an arm around Rhys’ shoulder. “Don’t worry princess, Jack won’t let the scary druggie scientists eat you alive.”

  
Rhys elbowed him in the side a little but didn’t protest much, content with using Jack as a human shield.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh finally updating this, thank god. If I waited any longer I was gonna punch myself I swear.  
> Did ya see me trying to work some protective Jack in there towards the end? That's my kink, threats.
> 
> Come hit me up on tumblr @rhysiebaby


	6. Chapter 6

It was a couple weeks later when Nisha arrived on the space station yet again. She greeted Jack in his office (Rhys didn’t think he had truly left within the past three days anyway, and was running off of what was surely pure mania). 

 

Rhys had been leaning against Jack’s desk as the alpha animatedly explained the latest in the development of some Handsome Jack themed merchandise, appliances with his voice integrated into them. Rhys thought nothing would be more horrifying than waking up to make coffee and immediately being yelled at by Jack.

 

“No no no pumpkin, not me saying those things that I say to mindless workers! More along the lines of my sweet, smooth voice instructing you how to do things, telling you good job all that jazz. They’ll eat it up.”

 

Rhys laughed and rolled his eyes. Jack watched his face intently, smile still wide.

 

“Maybe you don’t believe me ‘cause you haven’t heard it baby” Jack purred, his eyes trained on Rhys. 

 

The omega refused to dignify that with an answer and turned his head away from Jack’s stare. His action only caused Jack’s smile to grow, and he leaned closer to Rhys. 

 

The doors opened then, and Jack sat back quickly to stand up as Nisha strode in. 

 

Power radiated from her as she got closer. From the swing of her hips to the scars on her arms. 

 

Her entrance felt similar to the first time Rhys saw her and Jack together, although this time Jack merely opened his arms as Nisha approached.

 

Rhys was relieved not to have to sit in an awkward and mildly aroused silence again.

 

“Nish!” Jack called out, as he linked an arm heavy around her waist, pulling her back to his desk toward Rhys “you remember Rhys right? Kid I had you go an get after Ax fucked it up?” 

 

She grinned at Rhys from where she stood before him with Jack “Sure do. Legs like those are hard to forget”

 

Jack quickly moved past Nisha’s comment, giving Rhys little time to process it.

 

“Anyway, I was telling Rhys here all about the machines using my voice. I think he’s not on board because he hasn’t heard it, but  _ you  _ have. So what do you think of my sexy voice talking to you while you do otherwise boring things? Good huh?”

 

Nisha snorted, “Not sure I’d call your voice that.”

 

Jack laid a hand over his heart in mock betrayal. “Nisha, babe. C’mon.”

 

Rhys studied their interaction. It was so weird, to see both of them in their sheer power interact with one another. To  _ joke _ . It felt private to see Jack like this, without threat.

Rhys listened to their banter for a moment more before interrupting “So what are your plans while you’re on Helios?”

 

Like he had to ask.

 

He did for good measure.

 

“Well, Jack here promised me a first go at some of those new experimental drugs as soon as we wouldn’t die from them.” Nisha looked over at Jack to further her explanation.

 

“What will you be testing? They all do different things right?” Rhys asked, moving his eyes over to Jack as well.

 

He was practically leering at the omega “ _ Stamina”.  _

 

Rhys was sure there was a hint of a blush on his cheeks as he cast his eyes down at the mental images he was flooded with. 

 

Jack kept grinning until Nisha bumped him with her hip. “Well cowboy? You ready to race me down the halls of your precious space station?”

 

Rhys was pulled out of his embarrassed state and looked up questioningly .

 

Jack let out a sigh and tore his eyes from Rhys to look at her. “Babe, I was totally leading him on to think we were going to have crazy sex, and you  _ had _ to ruin it.”

 

She looked smug as she destroyed his charade and smiled at Rhys “I bet Jack here that he couldn’t outrun me anymore. Being up here in space hasn’t given him the opportunity to keep his skills in check. That, and his age.” She said as she toyed fondly with the stripe of grey in his hair.

 

Jack batted her hand away. “ _ That’s _ from the stress of being a super rich ceo and powerful ruler of Pandora.”

 

“Sure babe,” Nisha said, slipping from his arm, and turning back to the door to leave as quickly as she came. 

 

Jack looked at Rhys with an irritated expression “Ignore her. And don’t think because I’m gone you can slack off. I want to see those mock ups tomorrow yeah?”

 

Rhys nodded slightly dazed, “Sure thing.”

 

“That’s my good boy.” Jack said, and turned to catch up with Nisha as the doors opened and closed, leaving Rhys alone in the office.

 

With Jack gone, Rhys went back to his own desk. He couldn’t decipher how he felt, and the feelings of being unsure were already bothering him.

 

Rhys had felt foreign in their exchange, like he was witnessing a side of Jack he wouldn’t see again. There was minor disappointment at that thought, and Rhys tampered down the remnants of jealousy he felt as well.

 

It was not only stupid to feel jealous of them, but probably extremely dangerous. Jack killed people before he had breakfast, and Rhys could very easily become one of them.

 

But he wanted more of this part of Jack, the less open, but more exposed side. The omega wanted to push the thoughts out of his mind. He hadn’t even really spent that much time with the man. For all Rhys knew, this sudden friendliness could be a warning of some sort.

 

Either way he was going to end up making a mistake. He dropped the subject, ignoring the nagging feeling in his brain, and opted to focus on the half finished drawings on his desk.

 

* * *

  
  


Once outside the office Nisha pushed at Jack “Okay, what was that?”

 

Jack paused “What was what?”

 

She looked at him blankly. “You know, the whole not being completely intimidating and an asshole around someone that works for you?”

 

Jack scoffed and rolled his eyes, “What, Rhys? The kid is completely harmless I don’t have to intimidate him.”

 

Nisha looked at him again,  _ how could he not see it _ . “You care about this kid and what he thinks of you?”

 

Jack rolled his eyes again and Nisha was sure that if he did it one more time they would get stuck. “Nish, you’re being so weird right now. You jealous or something that you’re not the only one I can be nice to? I didn’t really peg you to be one of those people that gets off on being the one person someone treated well.”

 

_ God,  _ she had somehow managed to forget about Jack’s ego while being on Pandora. You’d think the constant Handsome Jack propaganda would remind her. “Don’t be a dick Jack. It was just odd for you to show someone that part of you so quick.”

 

“You think I can’t trust the kid? You think he’ll see me differently or something? Huh?”

 

Nisha let out a breath. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. She had hoped Jack would give her a quick straightforward explanation, without the dramatics and his insecurities getting in the way.

 

“Whatever cowboy, let’s go. I’m going to kick your ass and I can’t wait to see the look on your hypercompetitive face as I win.”

 

“Like hell you will. I’ve been preparing.”

 

“Say it if it makes you feel better.”

 

Jack walked after Nisha as she made her way to the elevator. As they stepped inside Nisha looked down at her bitten nails. “You’re not the ruler of Pandora either, Jack.”

 

The doors closed as he threw his hands up in exasperation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this was so short (and ooc)! School is finally out for me so really quickly I wanted to churn out a chapter to remind you it wasn't abandoned. Luckily the next chapter is already partially written! 
> 
> This felt so bad writing it, was quite the embarrassing struggle. And Rhys had so few lines :( However I really wanted to start to develop this more emotionally than I had but it may be a little rushed. Also! Trying to move away from the JackNisha we saw earlier.
> 
> Next chapter has feelings of insecurity, weakness, and crying! I love it.
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr @rhysiebaby


End file.
